coxinha de galinha [koh ‘shee nyah gee gah ‘lee nyah]: one or two tiny pieces of chicken rolled in a lot of dough with half of a chicken bone stuck inside — deep fried.
croquete de carne [kroh ‘keh tche gee ‘kah nee]: meat of dubious origin mixed with dough, usually rolled into a little ball or a finger-sized stick — deep fried.
pastel de queijo [pah ‘stehl gee ‘kayh joo]: small pasta pie with bits of cheese floating inside — deep fried.
ovo cozido [‘oh voh koh ‘zee doo]: multicolored hard-boiled chicken eggs, often eaten in two bites.
P.F. [peh ‘ehff] (prato feito): ready-made house dish of the day, inevitably consisting of rice, black beans, beef jerky, and farofa, pizza: very soggy crust with a thin piece of cheese on top. Served at room temperature.
Obs.: The true Carioca will eat something even if it doesn’t look very tasty. It becomes sort of a personal challenge.
In Rio you can eat just about anything — and I really mean anything. Sometimes you may not be sure of exactly what you are eating, so it’s always best to have at least two caipirinhas before digging in. This not only gives you courage and opens your appetite, it kills any unwelcome microorganisms which were not originally on the menu.
Caipirinhas
Caipirinhas are the local cocktail, and a true Carioca will always have at least two of them at a sitting. Smash some limes in the bottom of a glass with several heaping tablespoons of sugar. Drop in some ice and fill the glass with cachaça (Brazil’s answer to tequila and vodka), and you have the Carioca’s favorite drink. Other variations include substituting the cachaça for rum (caipirissima) or vodka (caipirovska), substituting the limes for grapes (caipiruva), or forgetting the fruit, sugar and ice and having it straight up, which is referred to as a rabo de galo (rooster tail). Served with a café com leite (coffee with milk) chaser, it is a favorite breakfast substitute for construction workers at the local botequins. Put cachaça and sugar together with any fruit in a blender, pass it through a sieve, and you have a batida (bah ‘tchee dah). It’s almost as much fun as a caipirinha, without all that garbage at the bottom of the glass to deal with. Have a few and you’ll be dancing the samba in no time.
Let’s do lunch!
Cariocas tend to go lightly on breakfast in order to save room for the lunch ritual. Downtown, during the week, lunch is eaten punctually at noon. Business people have their favorite lunch spots, which are usually very small, hot and crowded, with waiters who move like «The Flash», thus creating a rushed atmosphere. As a matter of fact, speaking of atmosphere, you’ll find plenty in a typical downtown lunch spot. You won’t find a salad or vegetable dish gracing these tables, though, as Cariocas seem to have a preference for pure starch. The only exception to this rule is when the sidewalk thermometers reach 40 °C (104°F), and the prato de verão (summer plate) — which consists of a wide assortment of fruit together with ham and hard-boiled eggs — comes back on the menu. These heavy noontime meals are then burned off by standing in any number of bank lines in an effort to pay bills before heading back to the office.
Of course, if you only have time for a stand-up-at-the-counter lunch, you will surely find a local boteco to meet your gastronomical needs. The true Carioca will savor the pernil (pork roast) with pineapple sandwich or coxinha de galinha selected from the glass counter, but not before asking the fellow behind the counter, «Tá bom isso aí?» («Is this good?») To which the fellow will most definitely reply, «Ooo, tá ótimo. É de hoje!» («Oh, yes, very good. Everything prepared today!»), even if they have been sitting in their juices for the better part of the week.
Lunch in areas other than downtown differ only in the respect that the suits, ties, shoes, socks, heels, stockings, and briefcases are back at home in the closet. In fact, in even the finer establishments in the Zona Sul section of Rio, one might see the clientele casually dressed in tangas (covered by kangas) and sungas.
On weekends Cariocas eat lunch anytime from noon until dusk, depending on the number of caipirinhas or chopps consumed. If you arrive at a restaurant for an early dinner, you will probably overlap with the lunch crowd.
Feijoada
Like all of us, you too may have always dreamed of eating a stew made of pig ears, tails, snout, tongue, and hoofs, combined with dried meats, sausages, slab bacon, salted pork, and black beans served on rice, accompanied by kale, fried manioc flour, oranges, and a caipirinha. Well, now is your chance. Named by the slaves «wav back when,» the feijoada [feyh joo ‘ah dah] is the Brazilian national dish and is traditionally eaten on Wednesdays and Saturdays for lunch. Be sure to put a spoonful of the accompanying malagueta [mah lah ‘geh tah] (veeeeery hot pepper) sauce on top of the beans for that added adventure. Although feijoadas are served at the finest hotels and restaurants, a true Carioca will only eat a feijoada at his favorite boteco. And don’t forget those caipirinhas!
If you should decide to indulge in a feijoada, be sure that you have the rest of the day free. Since the aftermath of eating a feijoada may be very dangerous, the following post-feijoada precautionary measures should be observed:
• Do not wear tight pants.
• Do not go out to play soccer.
• Do not operate heavy machinery.
• Do not have sex, wild or otherwise.
Acceptable options of things to do after eating a feijoada are:
• Lie in the hammock on the veranda or under a tree with your eyes closed, listening to the chirping of the birds.
• Extend yourself on a soft, comfortable sofa while listening to a Gilberto Gil CD with the air-conditioner at full blast.
Dinner
Cariocas won’t even consider eating dinner until after nine o’clock, and most restaurants will serve until the wee hours of the morning. The fare will resemble that of lunch, although many will opt for a pizza or pasta dish for a change. Both lunch and dinner are preceded by the optional convert (appetizers) consisting of the obligatory limp carrot and green pepper sticks, toasted day-old bread chips, and quail eggs. A favorite pastime while waiting for the main dish is identifying the contents of the various small stainless steel containers in which the convert is served. Surprisingly, they are often excellent and tasty.