Get your fork

Staying with an American while in Brazil means that the food experience is not necessarily traditional. For example: Everyone says Brazilians eat rice and beans almost every day, but somehow I have escaped this phenomena. I had a little yesterday at a buffet. (Tasted like beans and rice.) The thing I have found amazing? How much non-Brazilian food I've been eating. I don't feel like I can make complete generalizations (yet), but they definitely like meat, their sweets ultra sweet, and they don't like their food very spicy for the most part. I'll just post pictures and let you get a feel.

First breakfast: Fresh papaya and COFFFEEEE!!!

Pringles look like Pringles the world over.

Peter cooking up sausage chicken and beef for our Carnaval churrasco (barbecue) with Sandra and Yuri. This probably is the most traditional meal I've had.

Sandra and Ligia made a traditional brigadeirão cake (very fudgy!)

Pizza at F and F's. Super good.

Lisa (Peter's sister) sent some presents with me for her family, including a pack of hot sauces for Dave. They now have a place of honor on the kitchen shelf. It's hard to get good hot sauce here.

The sign for Massamatsu in Taubaté. Really good sushi with fish brought from the coast every morning. Not a ton of variety, but what was there was great.

Nina got some homemade pomonha from the guy growing corn on their property in Natividade da Serra before we went to the sitio.  It's sort of like a tamale, but the corn meal is sweetened. Sometimes people eat them cold. The slightly gelatinous texture was a little weird for me, sooo....  (see next photo)

... Let's fry it! (Also a common way to eat it.) The texture was vastly improved and it tasted like cornbread with honey. 

Chicken cooked with vegetables and herbs. Here's something Brazilian: When you buy a frozen chicken, it's the WHOLE chicken. The head, feet and all of the organs are inside the body cavity. The yellow stuff is a type of squash – a great big giant green and yellow squash that shall remain nameless. 

Kibe, made from ground beef, mint, and some other herbs, has Mediterranean origins, but is very popular in Brazil. Love them!

Our plates at lunch at Kaé, a small pousada (hotel) and restaurant with a great patio near the dock in Natividade. It's a salad bar and buffet with greens, tomatoes, noodles, fish, chicken, beef, eggplant salad and, of course, the obligatory rice and beans. Giant beer (served with juice-size glasses) goes great with everything.