Revolting food. Sunday April 4, 2010

Having raved about how fabulous the food is here, I have finally come across some disgusting Brazilian food, that to my delicate Western pallet it totally inedible.

This weekend was Easter weekend, so a three day holiday. Friday, being Good Friday and a very important day on the Christian calendar saw us getting up late, Steve playing golf, followed by drinks and eats at the golf club with some new acquaintances.

Steve maintains that he worships at the church of the 18 fairways. The rest of the family is more traditionally religious.

The previous day I had been to the supermarket, and there, in the middle of the aisle was a display of salted cod. This, it seems is a traditional Brazilian dish for Good Friday. It must also be a delicacy the rest of the year because it is always available. But on this day in particular, there was a mountain of the stuff.

And, it has to be said, there were literally dozens of people picking over it to
choose the tastiest looking morsel. Well, one look and I definitely passed on the other side. The smell was enough to make me steer well clear.

But back to the golf club. The waiter, with great pride, told us that the “special” of the day was salted cod, served with ………. My Portuguese isn’t that good yet.
I got the salted cod bit, and learned from my host that the remainder comprised lumps of potato with other stuff mashed in. She told me that it was to be avoided – phew. Salad looked good. Lucky escape there.

The following day, Easter Saturday, we decided to go to the beach for lunch. Some (other) new friends had suggested that we head for the nearest resort - 120 kilometers, (75 miles) away. There is a “Leading Hotels of the World” - “Casa Grande” there, which sounded good to us. We had thought about heading out on Easter Sunday but Marcelo heard of our plans and there was no mistaking his angst at the thought of sitting in traffic jams heading back to Sao Paulo late on Sunday afternoon. We heeded his advice and went on Easter Saturday instead.

( I found out today that the average journey time on Easter Sunday was 9 hours to cover the 120 kilometres. Good call Marcelo.)

But back to Casa Grande. Lunch, Brazilian style is very often a buffet and the Casa Grande didn’t disappoint. The salad bar was to die for and the dessert table was laden with goodies for later.

But, in between the salad and the dessert was the “traditional” hot buffet. Well, it is very Brazilian to eat rice and black beans – arroza and feijao preto. I have managed to avoid this so far but on Saturday there was no getting away from it. It was literally all there was in the way of hot food. The chafing dishes were bubbling away with a thick black bean sauce and would, “madam like her black bean and rice with salted pork loin, salted pork ribs, salted jerked pork or salted pigs’ ears, trotters or tail” – ugh. And just in case there wasn’t enough of the black bean and pork, there was deep fried lard. I can feel my arteries clogging at the thought of it. I managed about three mouthfuls of salted pork loin and had to give up.

The salad bar was looking very good.

All over the world there are various delicacies and traditions that really don’t translate for non natives. In the main, I have managed to avoid them. Sometimes, being the only Westerners and "honoured guests" there is no escaping it.

In the Philippines it was balut. Check out the Wikipedia description below. Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up so I will let Wikipedia describe it for me.

In Turkey there was the religious celebration of Kurban bayram, and again, Westerners just don’t get it.

In Sweden, Christmas lunch consists of pickled herring. One delicacy being a particularly nasty fermented herring. If you left an open tin in your fridge it would be the end of the fridge. Nothing could get rid of the smell (Again, see the footnote courtesy of Wikipedia.) Glad to say that I never tried that one.


Traditional food in France, is, on the other hand delicious, as long as you like copious amounts of garlic. I never had a problem there, and in the United States as long as you could cope with 5000++ calories on your plate you were fine.

I am sure that Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding sounds bizarre to the uninitiated, but for us Brits it is absolutely delicious.

So, each to their own. Over the years I have become very respectful of traditions and customs in all of the places that we have lived – just as long as I don’t have to observe them.


Surströmming "soured (Baltic) herring" is a northern Swedish dish consisting of fermented Baltic herring. Surströmming is sold in cans, which often bulge during shipping and storage, due to the continued fermentation. When opened, the contents release a strong and sometimes overwhelming odour, which explains why the dish is often eaten outdoors.

A balut is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell.
Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors in the regions where they are available. It is commonly sold as street food in the Philippines