by Janette Bennett
Florianopolis, Brazil, is the state capital of Santa Catarina. Most of the city sits on a beautiful island right off the coast of Brazil. The diversity of the environment and the population on this island is matched by a diversity in the kind of food available.
Although there are many restaurants in Florianopolis, probably due to the fact that this is a very touristic region, there are not as many "ethnic" cuisines available, except for Italian food, as a visitor would find in a comparable U.S. city.
Thinking that Brazilian food would be similar to Mexican food with a twist is a completely wrong assumption. Back to back Italian restaurants occupy both sides of the streets, advertising beautiful dishes of macarrão (spaghetti), pizza and lasanha (lasagna).
Why is Italian food so popular here?
“In the South and Southeast of Brazil, there are many Italian descendents, plus it is really good,” said Priscila Gibson, a native Brazilian.
Italian food might be very popular here, but it is not considered traditional Brazilian cuisine.
SEAFOOD PARADISE
At Praia de Jurerê, located in the northern tip of the island, there is a restaurant called Pimenta Limão. The restaurant overlooks the Atlantic, surrounded by oysters farms and shrimp boats. In addition to having only the freshest seafood, they also have authentic beef-based dishes of all sorts.
The chef Renato Mazurek suggested one of his favorite dishes, called carne seca, a type of beef jerky.
“Carne seca is a salty shredded beef from the side of the cow,” Mazurek said.
Carne seca with mashed mandioquinha and aipim
The dish comes with mashed pumpkin (aipim) and white rice (arroz). It also comes with a bean stew that you can pour over the carne seca, called feijão. As a side, feijão compliments the dish very well, toning down the popular salt everyone uses so generously here.
CHURRASCOS
Another traditional Brazilian specialty is their famous barbecue, called churrasco. Student-organized barbecues at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) campus are very popular, and provide an excellent opportunity for classmates to socialize and unwind after classes.
In a traditional Brazilian barbecue, or churrasco, different types of meat, such as picanha (tri-tip) and lingüiça (Portuguese sausage) are roasted in long skewers over a live coal pit.
No churrasco would be complete without serving at least three or four different cuts of meat, incuding not only beef, but also pork and chicken. Fancy restaurants called churrascarias will offer an all-you-can-eat buffet that might also include more exotic options, such as game (boar meat, for example), salmon, and chicken hearts.
For the most part, however, the meat is the same that you would get in the U.S., but seasoned and prepared differently.
The traditional Brazilian churrasco
“At the student churrascos you eat linguiça and meat plain, just with a bread roll and maybe some vinagrette sauce because we are poor. At traditional barbecues you eat linguiça and meat with tomato, onion, olive oil, salt and farofa (a maniock flour-based dish). Those are the good churrascos,” Elaine Cristine de Almeida, a student at UFSC, said.
CAFÉ OPTIONS
Down near Lagoa da Conceição, a lagoon in the center of the island, there is a little café called Café Cultura that is owned by a native Californian named Josh Stevens. It is just a little café that has soups, salads and Italian sandwiches better known as panini (plural of panino).
A panino is a very large sandwich filled with meats and vegetables.
“First you make the sandwich with your chosen ingredients, then you put it on a grill press to toast the bread and melt the cheese. Pressing the bread also helps heat up the meat and vegetables so you have a hot sandwich. Every panino is served with lettuce greens and everyone only uses oil and vinegar. No ranch,” Stevens said.
Joshua Stevens at his Café Cultura in Lagoa
Traditional Brazilian food is rather similar to what Americans eat in the U.S. What is different is how they prepare it and what they like with or on it. Mustard, ketchup and ranch are not at all popular. They are substituted with salt, vinagrette and olive oil. This adds a different taste that is still very good.