BRAZILIAN FOOD & DRINK

The most common dishes feature various meats, rice and the ubiquitous Brazilian black beans (feijão), whilst restaurants often offer all-you-can-eat barbecues and buffets. Brazil also has many regional varieties of cookery. An example is the Bahian cookery, which includes dishes such as : Vatapa (shrimps, fish oil, coconut milk, bread and rice), Sarapatel (liver, heart, tomatoes, peppers, onions and gravy). From Rio Grande do Sul a typical dish is Churrasco (a kind of barbecue). From the Amazon comes Tacaca (thick soup with shrimps and garlic).

All alcoholic drinks are available, including excellent large style beers: Skol, Brahma, Antarctica and Cerpa. The most popular local alcoholic beverage is Cachaca, most commonly served as "Caipirinha" with slices of lime. Soft drinks include Guarana (a carbonated cola-like drink) and many varieties of excellent fruit-juices (sucos) including several vitamin-rich fruits you will never have heard of. Coffee tends to be served as a very strong. If you want to avoid sugar in coffee and juices, you should specifically ask for this. In Rio, you may see it’s common to ask for cocconut water in restaurants or kiosks by the beach, and “mate”, a beverage that reminds an iced tea.