Italy

Brazil: A Country of Constrasts, as seen through Carla’s Eyes

Carla, our regional contributor from Brazil, is a proud Brazilian, an English as a Foreign Language teacher, and a “world citizen.” Read more about why Brazil is such a pleasure to the senses, and how this country of contrasts will surprise you!

Tell us a little about yourself.

Where do you live? Where are you from? If those are different, can you tell us a little about what inspired your move?

I’m now back to Brasilia, my hometown in Brazil, but I’ve lived for two years in Key West, Florida. When I was a teen, I lived as an exchange student in a small town near Seattle in the U.S., and also in Mestre, Italy, a 10-minute train ride from Venice.

I guess I’m just an intrepid, curious traveler and world citizen who wants to learn more about other cultures and explore new perspectives.

If you would describe yourself as multi-cultural, tell us a bit about what culture you most identify with and why.

I’m totally Brazilian, but can’t deny my Italian traditions as my dad is Sicilian. I’m loud, laugh a lot, love to cook Italian food, and I just get thrilled when I can gather family and friends around a big table and spend the day just chatting.

Why did you decide to become a Pocket Cultures contributor?

I decided to become a Pocket Cultures contributor because I wanted to share with the world a bit more about my country and to dispel some myths and stereotypes about it, as well as become part of this multicultural group from which I can travel the world without even leaving home.

Can you describe a typical day for you?

Brasilia is still an atypical city, for we take our kids to school, go to work, then we pick them up at school and have lunch altogether at home. Lunch is all fresh and prepared at home. Then, back to work (I’m responsible for the Educational Technology area of the Bi-national Center I work for and the e-learning program) around 1:50 pm. I stay there until around 6:30 pm, I pick up the kids at the club where they practice sports. We have dinner (generally something light) around 7:30 pm, we watch TV and chat, the kids do their homework. Then, we watch the 9:00 soap opera (very popular in Brazil). The kids go to bed, I stay up with my husband, check my Facebook account, do some work on the computer, blog and go to bed.

What is the best part of living in your country? The worst?

The best part about living in my country? It’s people and the quality of life we have around, plus all the fun we have with friends and family.

In this post about a very famous Brazilian movies “The City of God”, you’ll see in the comments, some of my favorite Brazilian films and a great discussion about Brazilian movies http://brazilandbrazilians.blogspot.com/2007/05/city-of-god.html

What’s something that visitors are often surprised by when getting to know your country/culture?

Some visitors still have the stereotyped view of Brazil being simply a developing country made of social problems and poverty. This is certainly true. However, many foreigners get to understand that we cannot define Brazil by being this or that because of its regional contrasts, and mainly because of its economic contrasts. On one side you do see a Third World country, but on the other, there’s a well-developed country with one of the most modern banking systems in the world, electronic ballots that are a model for the world every time we have elections, among other aspects that surprise the ones who visit us. Plus, its cultural diversity and culinary richness is alluring to visitors. Their senses are always surprised by so many things around to explore.

Knowing When No Means No … in Italiano

After knowing someone six years, being in a long-distance relationship with them for four and uprooting everything-that-is-normal-and good in your life and moving halfway around the world to be with a person, you’d think you’d know them.

Mah!

Not sure what that means?

I know how you feel.

My now-husband and I met in the romantic City of Lights in the spring of 2000, when we were both working at nearby Disneyland Paris. Lingual limitations prohibited a real relationship, but we were friends and occasionally we’d get together to look through our dictionaries and exchange new words.

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Twenty favourite Italian gelato flavours

On summer evenings, the Italian gelateria (ice cream shop) is the busiest part of town. The shop teems with people inspecting the mounds of gelato on display, choosing their favourites, deciding which two or three to sample tonight (that’s right, you can get THREE flavours in one cone!). Outside, the pavement is blocked with locals congregated to eat their ice cream, or just to hang out. You might run into a relative or a friend here and stop for a chat. Whatever else you’re doing, treating yourself to an ice cream is an important part of the evening.

So you can experience a bit of the magic, here are twenty of the most common ice cream flavours (gusti). Which would you choose?

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Celebrating nutella

Every Friday is food of the world day here at PocketCultures. And today is also World nutella day. Certain members of the PocketCultures team grew up in Italy, where nutella is a very important part of life. So, we’d like to dedicate today’s post to nutella!

Thanks to _inmyshoes_ for sharing this photo of a yummy looking homemade brioche with nutella. If you know Italian, the recipe is here. If you don’t know Italian, well, the pictures are also worth a visit!

Pocketcultures loves to discover food from around the world. If you have some photos, why not join our Food of the World Flickr group?

Read more:
Tort de ciocolata: Romanian chocolate cake
Submarino: hot chocolate, Buenos Aires style
How to drink cappuccino in Italy

The Cappuccino rule: fact or fiction?

If you’re visiting Italy sooner or later you’re bound to come accross one piece of advice: do not order a cappuccino after 11am and definitely not after midday.

Coffee break. Image credit: ::..LK..:: on Flickr

But is this really true or is it another travellers’ legend? We asked a selection of real life Italians about their coffee drinking habits.

Here’s what they said (names have been changed):

Massimino, Rimini: “I don’t drink cappuccino. I prefer latte macchiato and I would order it in a bar at any time of day. But in a restaurant, never”

Giuseppe, Lecce: “I would have no problem ordering cappuccino in the afternoon. In fact, I will have one now” (at 6pm)

Laura, Genoa: “The worst is when foreigners order cappuccino in the restaurant”

Luca, Naples: “Cappuccino is seen as breakfast mainly, this is why it is ordered in the morning. I think I have never ordered a cappuccino in the afternoon in Italy.

So my answer is NO, there are lots of other thing to choose … like coffee alla nocciola (coffee with hazlenut paste) etc., then Cappuccino is very warming and in Napoli (where I’m from) it is warm enough!”

Paola, Rimini: “Only foreigners drink cappuccino at all hours of the day. The average Italian (including me) only orders it in the morning: cornetto cappuccino e quotidiano (pastry, cappuccino and a newspaper) makes a perfect breakfast”

Giandaniele, Rome: “Cappuccino is only meant for the morning but nobody should be offended if you have one whenever”

Not your everyday cappuccino. Image credit: Andy Wade

The verdict? Looks like opinions are mixed.

The hard and fast rule is that you should never order cappuccino in the restaurant at the end of a meal. After a meal you will look out of place drinking anything but espresso.

In a bar? Some people might think it’s an unusual choice but it seems others won’t mind at all. If you really want one, why deprive yourself? You’re in the country of la bella vita, after all.

Read more:
Food of the World: Arrosticini – Italian street food
Milleuristi – the losers in new look Europe
Italian blogs on Blogs of the World

Arrosticini: Italian street food

Thanks to Jessica of Romephotoblog for this street food photo from Rome, Italy.

Arrosticini are skewers of lamb meat often cooked on the barbeque, like the ones in the photo. If you’re not squeamish have a look at the precooked version here.

Do you want to share photos of your country’s food? Join our photo group on Flickr and show us your photos.

Read more:
Street barbeque in Canada
Britain’s 10 favourite foods – is spaghetti bolognese Italian food or a British invention?
Italian blogs – read more about Italy on Blogs of the World