Food — Brazil

Brazilian cuisine is one of blending and generosity — Portuguese heritage (cod, rice, egg-based desserts), African (dendê palm oil, okra, tropical fruits), Amerindian (cassava, açaí, sugar). It varies radically by region: cosmopolitan feijoada in Rio, Afro-Bahian cuisine in the Northeast, gaucho churrasco in the South, Amazonian fish in Manaus, Pantanal beef.

Essential national dishes. Feijoada (absolute national dish, traditionally eaten Wednesday or Saturday lunch) is a black bean stew cooked with various pork cuts (ribs, ears, tail, feet, tongue, lard), sausages, paio, accompanied by white rice, farofa (toasted cassava flour), garlicky kale (couve) and orange slices — quintessential Sunday meal, to try at Casa da Feijoada in Ipanema (Rio) or Restaurante do Bira in Salvador. Churrasco (southern grills, gaucho heritage from the pampa) — picanha (top sirloin cap, king cut), costela (beef rib), linguiça, fraldinha — eaten in rodízio (all-you-can-eat, €30-60) at Fogo de Chão, Barbacoa, Porcão (international chains).

Bahian cuisine (Salvador, Recôncavo): moqueca de peixe (fish in coconut-dendê-coriander sauce, served in clay pot), vatapá (bread-coconut-peanut-dendê-shrimp puree), acarajé (black-eyed pea fritter in dendê, served by baianas in white, vatapá-shrimp-pepper filling, €5-8 each), caruru (okra and shrimp), bobó de camarão (shrimp in cassava). Bahian cuisine is richly spiced — azeite de dendê (red palm oil) is the signature ingredient, heavy but sublime.

Amazonian cuisine (Manaus, Belém): tacacá (cassava-jambu-dried shrimp-pepper soup, served hot in gourd), pato no tucupi (duck in cassava juice and jambu, local herb that numbs the mouth), pirarucu (world's largest freshwater fish, savoury white flesh), maniçoba (cassava leaves cooked 7 days, meats, festive dish). Amazonian fruits — açaí (purple energising juice, try at Polis Sucos in Belém or as sorvete at O Polo), cupuaçu, graviola, pupunha, taperebá, bacuri — are a revelation for European palates.

Southern cuisine (Curitiba, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre): gaucho churrasco (already mentioned), barreado (meat stew simmered 12h in sealed pot, Paraná specialty), chimarrão (yerba mate in gourd, ritual drink in the South).

Iconic drinks. Caipirinha (national cocktail: cachaça — sugarcane spirit — + lime + sugar + crushed ice) was born in São Paulo and conquered the world — €7-12 in Rio bars, try at Aprazível in Santa Teresa or Bar do Mineiro. Cachaça exists in thousands of varieties (Magnífica, Yaguara, Sagatiba, Salinas); the best (envelhecidas, barrel-aged) rival the finest rums. Brazilian coffee (the country is world's #1 producer) is drunk strong, sweet and black — cafezinho everywhere, free in shops and offices. Guaraná (Antarctica) is the national soda, based on energising Amazonian berry. Chopp beer (draft) is everywhere (Brahma, Skol, Antarctica, Bohemia). Chimarrão (hot mate in gourd) is the ritual drink of the South.

Desserts: brigadeiro (chocolate-condensed milk truffle, universal birthday dessert), beijinho (coconut-condensed milk truffle), quindim (coconut-egg yolk yellow flan, Portuguese heritage), pudim de leite (condensed milk flan). Tropical fruits (mango, papaya, pineapple, passion fruit, jackfruit, cashew, açaí) drunk as pressed juices (sucos) in all bars: São Roma in São Paulo, BB Lanches in Leblon.