Brazil has it all–vibrant culture, amazing nightlife, gorgeous coastlines, and tasty foods and drinks. You will leave this sensational country with your mind, body, and spirit full.
Here are 9 traditional foods and drinks to try while in Brazil to get a good taste of Brazil food culture.
Small disclaimer: food with an asterisk next to it indicates that I wasn’t able to try it during my recent trip, but that it was highly recommended by locals!
Foods
Barbecue at a Rodizio Churrascaria
If you’re a meat-eater, Churrascaria (barbecue) in Brazil is a must. A rodizio is a Brazilian restaurant with an all-you-can-eat style service. You pay a fixed price, and servers bring samples of food to you several times throughout the meal, until you signal you are about to pop and can’t eat anymore. In a rodizio churrascaria, waiters come to your table with different cuts of meat on skewers, which they cut off for you at the table. You can expect to eat a variety of local cuts of beef, pork, chicken, and occasionally exotic meats.
Servers also bring around palate cleansers between courses. My favorite was the grilled-pineapple with cinnamon. I love both pineapple and cinnamon and couldn’t believe this was my first time tasting the two together. The side dishes to accompany your meat are self-serve and set up buffet style. The best part was that this meal cost us $16.69! This type of experience in the U.S. would easily be 3x that amount.
Acarajé
(pronounced a-ka-ra-zjeh)
Acarajé is one of the most iconic foods of traditional Brazil cuisine, especially popular in Salvador da Bahia. In addition to being a street food, acarajé is also used as a religious offering to the gods in the Candomblé religion. It is a black-eyed pea fritter deep-fried in palm oil and stuffed with shrimp, peppers, and tomatoes. It has a bold distinctive flavor.
Açaí bowl
(pronounced ah-sigh-EE)
The açaí berry is a super fruit from the Amazon praised for its many health benefits and delicious taste and can be found practically everywhere in Brazil. Açaí was traditionally eaten by indigenous tribes for energy. Açaí bowls look very similar to ice cream and you can add different fruit and granola toppings to it. Strawberries were my go-to topping for my açaí bowls.
Feijoada*
(pronounced feyj-wah-dah)
Feijoada, Brazil’s most famous food, is a hearty black bean stew with beef and pork. Traditional feijoada usually has inexpensive cuts of meat, such as beef tongue and pig’s ears, feet, and tails. The stew is served with rice, sautéed collard greens, and orange slices and covered with toasted cassava flour. You can find this at most food places in Brazil. Saturday is known as the day of feijoada. More than a meal, it’s time to fellowship with family and friends.
Brigadeiro
(pronounced bree-gah-day-irow)
The brigadeiro is the national truffle of Brazil. It is made from condensed milk, cocoa powder, and butter. Traditionally, the truffle is layered to perfection with chocolate sprinkles. However, as the treat became trendy, different kinds of brigadeiro were created with flavors like lime, passion fruit, pistachio, white chocolate, and Nutella. The original and specialty flavors can be found at brigadeiro shops throughout Brazil. Brigadeiro is a birthday party essential in Brazilian households.
Moqueca*
(pronounced moo-kek-a)
Moqueca is a fish stew that has diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, and coriander ,served in a piping hot clay pot. Moqueca has roots in both Bahia (Northeast Brazil) and Espirito Santo (Southeast of Brazil), resulting in two tasty variations–moqueca bahiana and moqueca capixaba. The Baianos version is heavier, as its made with dendê (palm oil), peppers, and coconut milk.. The Capixabas include urucum (annatto seeds), which produce a natural red food coloring.
Drinks
Cachaça
(pronounced ka-shah-suh)
Created in the 1500s, cachaça is hard liquor produced from fermented sugarcane juice. There are thousands of variations of cachaça, all golden and aged in wood barrels. They are typically sipped as a shot. One of the local friends we made took us to Casa da Cachaça aka Bar Cachaça, located in the heart of the Lapa neighborhood in Rio. It’s a tiny basic bar, but it’s popular among the locals because it has over 100 brands of cachaça.
Caipirinha
(pronounced kai-peer-ee-nha)
The caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail, featuring cachaça, sugar, and lime. While you can buy caipirinhas practically everywhere in Brazil, I found that the best and cheapest ($1.50-$3) caipirinha were on the streets of the Lapa neighborhood. My favorite was the passionfruit caipirinha.
Fresh juices
It was extremely hot when we visited Brazil in December and we did a lot of walking around. Between the restaurants and street vendors, it was nice to have an abundance of fresh juice options to keep us hydrated and energized. My favorite was the coconut lime juice.
The comforting and vibrant nature of food and drink in Brazil is a reflection of its rich culture. Do you love Brazilian cuisine? What’s your favorite dish?
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This Post Has 18 Comments
Acarajé looks sooo scrummy! I’d love to try this one day. thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome! It is yummy, hope you get to try it soon!!
Oh my gosh I am so hungry now!! We have a churrascaria in town that I LOVE going to. I can only imagine how much better a real churrascaria in Brazil is. Sounds like most of the drinks there are pretty sweet – not sure if you’re a beer person at all but did you get to try any local beers and were they any good?
I’ve never been to a churrascaria in the states, glad I had a chance to experience in Brazil first. I’m really not a beer person, so I couldn’t speak on the quality. But the caipirinhas were yummy!
I’d never actually heard of Acarajé before, but it looks (and sounds) delicious from your picture and description. I’m wondering what a black-eyed pea fritter would taste like and what texture it’d have!
Prior to my trip to Brazil, I didn’t hear about acarajé either. It has a very light texture, but a very bold flavor!
I am definitely planning on visiting Brazil and I am a well-known foodie so thank you for this post. I am especially excited about the Moqueca and Açaí bowl, they sound yummy! BTW the picture of you drinking on the stairs is perfect!
You’re welcome, you will be in foodie heaven in Brazil. And thank you!! I was super content sipping on my caipirinha on the Selerón stairs!
YUM! Looks so delicious. Especially the fruit juice, I’m sure those are divine!
Yes, the abundance of fresh fruit juice was awesome!
Well, it’s official…now I can’t go grocery shopping OR read food blogs while I’m hungry. This all looks SOOO good! The churrascaria looked delicious – and that price is amazing!
The churrascaria was my absolute fav!! Especially because of the price and quality of the meat! I could eat there every day, but probs not the best health decision lol.
OMG, you just made me hungry even though I just ate, haha! Trying local food and drinks is such an important part of my travels, so I will absolutely save this for later! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Haha yes, I got hungry putting the article together! I agree you can really learn about a country through its cuisine.
The Acaraje looks yummy with shrimp, peppers, and tomato inside. It sounds like a taco in Mexico. What’s your favorite food/drink while there?
I loved the churrascaria and the Caipirinhas !!
Wow, this post me officially hungry 😀 I loved the Acarajé the most especially for the fillings and its bold colors. Well, I wouldn’t miss Brigadeiro as well 😉
Acarajé was yummy and you can never go wrong with chocolate 🙂