7.14.2007

Over the past 11 months I've spent time hanging out with Mateus at the Dona's house, talking and enjoying lunches. The amazingly delicious and simple foods that are served at the Dona's house exude the essence of Brazilian life. I've tried to guess what ingredients are used but have been stumped. So, I asked if I could hang out in the kitchen and learn how to prepare basic Brazilian foods.

This past week I've had the privilege of spending three days in the kitchen with Nelda the head chef, and Karen, her su chef, although neither one of them would call themselves chefs. But they are. Daily they feed between 10 and 25 people. Members of the church that come at times to work either at the church, the memorial or the Dona's house. Doing various chores. Yesterday, Dona Maria washed out the Daime jugs, Carmen cleaned and oiled the wood paneling in the kitchen, and Val did the daily laundry (which includes washing, hang drying and ironing everything, even the underwear!). Today, there were a number of men painting the outside of the house, getting it ready for the large party celebrating the Dona's 70 th birthday on Saturday. Often when I'm at the Dona's house I think of the saying "Many hands makes for light work". People at this church really work together.

Around 11AM everyone will stop and eat together. The children are permitted to eat before the Dona but everyone else has to wait for the Dona to get her lunch first. Supplies are often brought by members of the church, who drop off bags full of supplies--rice, beans, farina, tomato sauce, etc. Rice and beans are served with every lunch and I've heard people say that they haven't eaten if they haven't had rice and beans with their main meal. On a few occasions people have asked me if Americans eat rice and beans daily. I usually say, "si, teng arroz e fegioan, mas, nao todo dia". Which means, yes we have rice and beans but not every day. They just look at me strange, like we Americans don't eat properly. The look is usually accompanied with a shoulder shrug.

The first morning I was in the kitchen, we made stewed pork shoulder, carne moida (ground beef) with spaghetti, salada (cabbage, beet & tomato salad), farofa (ground up maxacada root), and of course, rice and beans. The latter is usually taken for granted. In many cultures the main subsistence dish is usually the sacred unspoken-the dish that is never talked about but expected to adorn every lunch table. And for me, the Americana, to learn how to make this sacred staple would be a little coup for me.

You might think, "how hard can it be to make beans?" Welp, "fejiao da Nelda" is quite the undertaking. It takes a good hour, give or take and can include any combination of, a whole beet, green onions, covie (a type of green), mild peppers, acorn squash pieces, dried beef chunks, chopped green beans, salt, and coloral. Coloral is an indigenous powder that is often used by the natives of the forest as body paint. But here in the city, it is used in almost everything. Especially, coating meat before it is fried up. It is rich in red color and really has no smell and a mild taste. I have grown to love it and have secured two large bags for the flight home.

After three days I have some really great traditional recipes and am eager to try them out on friends back in the states, especially Brazilian meatballs, which are outtasite. Look forward to seeing you all in a week!



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