This document provides definitions for over 70 traditional Brazilian foods, dishes, and ingredients. It includes staples like rice, beans, and manioc flour as well as regional specialties featuring ingredients like pequi, acai, and dried shrimp. Dishes range from simple sides and snacks to complex stews incorporating meats, seafood, and indigenous or African influences. The glossary offers insight into the rich culinary traditions and influences that have shaped Brazilian cuisine.

1. Glossary
Abará – black-eyed beans crushed and seasoned Baião de dois – rice, beans spices and often meat
with spices and dried shrimp rolled in banana all cooked together
leaf cooked in water bath or vapor.
Barreado – a typical dish from the coast of
Acaçá – Rice or corn cake, very common in the Paraná.
Afro-Bahian cuisine.
Beijus – A type of manioc or tapioca biscuit baked
Acarajé – black-eyed bean cakes fried in palm and rolled.
oil, usually served with shrimp or vatapá filling.
Bobó de camarão – creamy shrimp stew made
Açaí – also known as “assai”, a typical fruit from with maniocs and palm oil.
the Amazon region.
Bom-bocado – sweet made of sugar, yolks, flour,
Alcamonias – sweet made, in general, from mo- grated coconut or cheese.
lasses and flour
Bolo de estudante – fried cake made with tapioca
Alféola – dough of sugar or sugarcane honey, and grated coconut.
in a thick texture, that when kneaded becomes
Brevidades – crackers of polvilho (manioc flour),
whitened. Used for candies.
sugar, eggs, etc. baked.
Aluá - Soft drink made from pineapple or rice,
Buchada de bode – goat viscera thoroughly
sugar and lemon, sold commonly by black wom-
cleaned and cooked in its own stomach.
en in the colonial cities.
Canjica – a white variety of corn, very typical
Ambrosia – a traditional Portuguese dessert.
of Brazilian cuisine commonly used in a sort of
Arroz carreteiro – rice, shredded dried meat and sweet porridge.
spices mixed together.
Carimã – cake prepared with fat manioc dough,
Baba-de-moça – a typical sweet from Brazil made in the shape of flattened discs dried in the sun.
from yolks, coconut milk and sugar syrup.
Caruru – Afro-Bahian food made with okra, dried
shrimp and peanuts.
168 Texts from Brazil . Nº 13

2. Catimpuera – type of fermented beverage made Lelê – cake made with corn and coconut.
from cooked or smashed corn or manioc, mixed
Mãe-benta – a sweet cake made from cornstarch,
with water and bee honey
butter, sugar and eggs.
Chimarrão – strong tea prepared from the greens
Maniçoba – food made out of manioc shoots
of the yerba mate, a South American traditional
mixed with meat and/or fish and seasoned with
beverage.
salt and pepper.
Cocada – grated coconut and sugar.
Mendubi – peanuts
Empadinhas – tidbits made in small molds with
Mineiro de botas – dessert made with fried ba-
a crumbling crust filled with shrimp, chicken,
nanas and melted cheese.
meat, cheese or vegetables like palm of heart and
spinach. A large version of empada is usually Mocotós – cow feet
served as a main course and is called empadão. Mojica – a stew of spotted surubim fish cooked
Farinha d’água – manioc flour made from the with manioc and spices.
manioc roots after it has been left to soak in the Moqueca capixaba – a fish stew of native Brazil-
river for a few days, producing a more humid ian influence, Espírito Santo style.
flour.
Moqueca de banana-da-terra – a plantain stew.
Farofa – toasted manioc flour
Paçoca – a dish made of meat with manioc
Fubá – maize flour meal.
Galinha à cabidela – cooked chicken with blood Pamonha – sweet or salted corn paste rolled and
sauce. baked in fresh corn husks.
Gergilada – sweet made from sesame seeds. Papo-de-anjo – dessert prepared with yolks
Guariroba – variety of heart of palm with bitter beaten with sugar, baked in small molds.
taste;
Flavors from Brazil 169

3. Passarinha – roasted ox spleen. bay leaf, onions, garlic, cumin, clove and lime
juice.
Pastéis – fried pastries made from wheat-based
dough with salt or sweet fillings. Sarrabulho – Guisado of lamb or pork’s viscera
and blood.
Pé-de-moleque – a sweet made with candy and
peanuts. Vatapá – traditional dish of the Afro-Bahian cui-
sine with fish or crustacean mixed with a mush
Pequi rice – rice cooked with pequi (a souari
made from manioc flour, palm sauce and pep-
fruit), typical of the Cerrado with a strong smell
per.
and taste.
Xerém – thick corn flour
Pinhão – nuts of the Paraná pine
Pinhoada – sweet made from honey and pine
nuts.
Pirão – mush prepared with fish broth
Queijada – a pie made with flour, milk, eggs,
cheese and sugar, cheesecake
Quindim – a cake made with yolk, sugar and co-
conut
Tacacá – a shrimp-based dish from the amazon
region
Tapioca – a flavorless starchy ingredient pro-
duced from treated and dried cassava (manioc)
root and used in cooking.
Torresmo – crackling (crisp, browned rasher of
lard)
Tucupi – a seasoning prepared of pepper and
manioc juice
Tutu de feijão – mashed beans in broth thickened
with manioc flour.
Sarapatel – dish made with pork or other ani-
mals’ viscera and blood, seasoned with parsley,
170 Texts from Brazil . Nº 13