If you ask me which dish is typically Brazilian, I could name a few, but some are, in fact, regional dishes. Feijoada, though, is unanimous. Everybody in Brazil has a “prato de feijoada” (a plate of feijoada) once in a while. Gathering friends on a Saturday, and listening to some live band playing samba, oh, its taste seems to become even better! Just a little advice: no calorie counting allowed for the feijoada! It is almost a sacrilege, and if you are on a diet, don’t get even close to it.

Feijoada - Typical Brazilian Dish

In Brazil, we put the feijoada – a black bean stew mixed with different parts of beef and pork (including pork ears, back, feet!) – on top of white rice, and add sliced oranges and collard greens to the plate. We can also include fried plantains, and cassava flour as traditional side dishes to the Feijoada. Some foreigners comment that, when they try the cassava flour, it seems they are eating sand because of its texture. In my case, I just love it all! For me, our feijoada is the perfect fit for a group get-together in a sunny weekend afternoon.

Feijoada - Typical Brazilian Dish

Some Brazilians argue that the origin of our feijoada is Portuguese, but most believe that our typical dish came from our African slavery period traditions. For more information on the origin of our feijoada, take a look here (Wikipedia).

You have to try it! It’s irresistible. Even better with cold beer or caipirinhas, our national drink made of lime. Well, maybe next time I can tell you a bit more of our famous caipirinha and its recipe…

This is Carla Arena’s first post on PocketCultures. Carla is a passionate Brazilian educator and we’re very excited about learning more about Brazil from her posts. If you’re a football fan, look out for Carla’s updates on world cup celebrations in Brazil, starting tomorrow.

Carla also blogs on her own blog, Collablogatorium.

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About the author

A proud Brazilian teaching English in Brazil, interested in cultures, languages, people and lifelong learning.