One of my favorite ways to explore a new country is by its food. After staying in Brazil for 2 months, I am certainly going to miss certain dishes, sweets, and drinks. Let me share with you my favorite Brazilian food.
Brazilian Food: Fruits
Cherimoya
One fruit I have never eaten before and tried for the first time in Brazil is Cherimoya. It is actually called many names, so you might also find it as “Pinha” or “Atemoia”. It has a rather sweet taste, is very soft inside and has big seeds that you can easily spit out.
Açai
Açai is probably known by most of you. During my stay, I couldn’t stop eating Açai bowels in the form of ice cream combined with condensed milk, granola, fruits, and paçocinha.
Açai berries actually grow on specific palm trees and look like grapes. It exists in different forms, such as powder, liquid or as ice cream.
Brazilian Food: Sweets
Paçocinha
One candy I couldn’t stop eating during my stay is Paçocinha. It is a kind of sweet made out of peanuts, sugar, and salt. Super simple but so delicious.
It is usually wrapped in yellow paper as small squares, so you can easily fit it in your bag as a snack to go. I bought a 1kg pack to bring back home for everyone to try.
Brigadeiro/Doce de Leite
If you are a chocolate lover, you will love Brigadeiro. It is a sweet made out of cacao powder, butter, and condensed milk. It is formed into little balls with sprinkles of your choice on top of it.
Brazilian Drinks
Batida & Caipirinha
A very sweet drink, people often enjoy at the beach or in bars is Batida. It is made out of Caçaça, condensed milk, and strawberries. It sounds very weird, but it is delicious and can be seen as a kind of cocktail, just like Caipirinha.
Caipirinha actually exists in many flavors here. You can also order Caipirinha of Maracuja, Tropical fruits, Mango or any fruit you like. Personally, I prefer the standard one with limes.
Guarana drink
One very famous soda drink in Brazil is Guarana. It is a very sweet drink and actually tastes a bit like energy drinks. People often drink it if they want caffeine and don’t like coffee, for example.
I actually like the taste of it, but couldn’t drink more than one once in a while as it gives you a kind of sugar shock and shortly boosts your energy.
Caldo de Cana de Açucar
One very refreshing drink you must try when visiting Brazil is Caldo de Cana de Açucar. It is made out of sugar cane and water. They are using a special machine to squeeze out the sugar from the cane.
When being served the drink, you will have the option to drink it pure, with lemon or pineapple. My recommendation: Lemon!
Brazilian Food: Snacks & Dishes
Coxinha
A lot of Brazilian food is actually fried, amongst them Coxinha. It looks a bit like a raindrop and is filled with chopped/shredded chicken meat in most cases. Around it is a dough made out of flour and potato.
Sometimes you also find it filled with just cheese or beef. It is the perfect take away snack if you are a little bit hungry.
Caldo Verde
Since I visited Brazil during winter it was often very cold in the evenings. Therefore, Caldo Verde became one of my favorite Brazilian dishes. It is a soup made out of potatoes, Cale and Calabrese (meat). Super easy to cook and delicious.
Mandioca
One of my favorite Brazilian food is Mandioca. It is a kind of potato which you can fry, so you have kind of French fries. Then you dip it in whatever sauce you like or simply Mayonnaise.
Tapioca
There are many ways to eat Tapioca as it comes in different forms and is used in sweets as well as in salty food. One way to eat it as little fried squares, made out of milk, cheese, and Tapioca powder. Another one is to eat it like crepes and fill it with strawberries and chocolate.
Feijoada
The probably most famous Brazilian dish is Feijoada – rice, beans and different kinds of meat mixture. Feijoada will never taste the same anywhere you go as everyone makes it differently and adds different pieces of meat.
Personal opinion about Brazilian food
Sweet & fried
If I had to summarise my food experience in Brazil, I can say that everything is very sweet and extra sugar is added, even if you order a natural juice. So make sure to say it upfront if you don’t want extra sugar added.
The same goes for fried food. You will find it in every corner and in every bakery. I am really surprised at how all the Brazilian maintain such a good body.
Many sweets are also made with condensed milk most of the time which was very surprising, but of course delicious. Sometimes a bit too sweet, but overall delicious.
Fruits
I was a bit disappointed in the fruits I bought in Brazil as they were often not very tasty and tasted more like water or nothing at all, except my favorite fruit Cherimoya.
Rice & Beans
Rice and beans are part of many Brazilian dishes. If you don’t like beans, don’t worry, you can always leave them out and order another side.
Meat
Brazil is a meat country which means that almost every dish comes with either beef, chicken or pork. If you are not a meat lover, don’t visit a Rodizio – a place where they serve huge pieces of different kinds of meat on a stick.
I hope you enjoyed this little food tour through Brazil and that I made you a bit curious to also try all of those things. If you are curious to find out what Brazilians eat and drink on Christmas and New Years, watch my YouTube video.
Finally, should you also travel to Rio de Janeiro while in Brazil, don’t miss out on those 7 sights in Rio during your visit.
