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Eat Smart in Brazil

© Erica Eva Carr-Betts

Imagine you are sitting in a quaint family-owned restaurant in Rio de Janeiro. As you linger here on top of a mountain, overlooking a river, drinking your Guarana soda, the chef brings you a huge moqueca, the dish of the house.

Your traveling companions ask you what they are about to enjoy and you are able to describe that moqueca is a regional classic stew from the northeastern region of Brazil. That the stew-like dish is flavored with dende oil and coconut oil, and that, as it is traditionally prepared, you have ordered it with fish and shellfish. You take pleasure in your dinner as you watch the sun set behind the mountains and discuss the adventures you encountered that day.

You will be able to do this with "Eat Smart in Brazil," one of the handy books by Joan and David Peterson that help you enjoy the cuisines of the world. It begins with a fascinating description of the cuisines of Brazil treated from both a historical and regional context. The Quick Tour through the five regions of Brazil lets you read up on the cuisine, and provides a little history of the various regions you will be visiting.

The Helpful Phrases section, the Menu Guide and the Food and Flavors Guide provide translations of phrases and dictionary definitions, so you can be sure that you eat well in a Brazilian restaurant -- and that you know what you are enjoying.

I learned that the umbu shake I enjoyed in Bahia, in the northern part of the country, is made from a Brazilian plum. The book also includes a number of color pages with photographs of Brazilians and the food of Brazil.

You won't have to leave the delicious tastes of Brazil when you return home as long as you have "Eat Smart in Brazil." Joan and David Peterson have included a Tastes of Brazil recipe section, which details how to make such mouth-watering recipes as Arroz de Carretero (Wagoneer's Rice), Empadinhas de Galinha (small, savory pastries filled with chicken and vegetables), and the Moqueca de Camarão you enjoyed in Rio.

Keep this book in your backpack if you are traveling in Brazil and bom apetite.

Eat Smart in Brazil - How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods & Embark on a Tasting Adventure - Publisher: Ginkgo Press Inc.; (September 1, 1995) - ISBN: 0964116839, $12.95.

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