On my second day in town I booked a tour with Around SP, a small company in São Paulo that offers tours of the city’s cultural sites. I told my guide, Luis, that I wanted a culinary tour, so we zoomed off in his car one morning with plans to hit some of the city’s markets, bakeries and dessert shops.
The Food Tour Begins
One of our first stops was a feira, or outdoor neighborhood market. It looked just like the tianguis: vendors had set up under plastic tarps, selling fruits and vegetables arranged into attractive piles. They called out to customers passing by. (This was no doubt the Portuguese equivalent of “We have papaya! 10 pesos a kilo!”)
The feira had things I’d never seen before: bulbous, thick squash shaped like a barbell; short spiky cucumbers; wild Brazilian cabbage known as couve, shredded and wrapped in plastic. Thick bulbs of garlic hung from ropes. Mounds of spices sat in large bowls — whole cumin seeds, peppercorns, dried chilies.
A big meat and seafood section lay beyond all the fruit, with the items displayed in neat rows inside plastic display cases. There were fresh sardines, calamari, and whole, fresh fish that I didn’t recognize. I was kind of in awe about how orderly this section was. In Mexico all the meat sits out in the open and kind of piled on top of each other.
Moving on: São Paulo’s Mercado Municipão
Toward the end of the day we stopped at São Paulo’s Municipal Market, a huge indoor place filled with fish, produce, sausages, nuts, dried fruits, spices, thick blocks of guava ate, and even cacahuates japoneses. (In Portuguese they’re called amendoim, and they come in barbecue flavor!)
It was pretty much a gourmet-food lover’s paradise. Bacalao, several varities, lay stacked maybe two feet high, next to linguica and soft cheeses, hard cheeses, olives. We tasted soft, spreadable catupiry cheese on crackers, and I looked at an oyster bar longingly, where people sat slurping and drinking beer. The market’s second floor has a food court, where you can supposedly find the best mortadella sandwiches in the city.
I still wasn’t very hungry, so we walked around the fruit area. I tasted jabuticaba (pronounced jah-boo-chee-KA-bah), an oversize grape kind of like a capulín. And, best of all, I tasted cajú, the cashew fruit.
Didn’t know cashew came from a fruit, you say? I didn’t either. The weird thing is that the cashew lies outside the fruit itself, like a little hat. You have to open the shell and fish out the cashew. The flesh itself, on the main part of the fruit, was the strangest thing I’d ever tasted — rubbery, fibrous and juicy like a ripe peach. I think I laughed while I was eating it, because I didn’t know what else to do.
Here is a picture of the cajú, again:
And the jabuticaba, which is fantastic in a caiparinha. And it apparently grows on trees, literally on the bark itself.
Pão de queijo: The perfect end to a great day
We finished our tour with a piece of pão de queijo, a stretchy, dense cheese bun made with tapioca flour. As a sidenote, I think I had pão de queijo every single day in Brazil. I think it might be the world’s most perfect food.
Rio de Janeiro photos coming next!
Joy
1. You must read State of Wonder.
2. There are cashew trees growing on the lush grounds of Los Flamingos Hotel in Acapulco (and mango, etc). I first encountered them there. Sadly, there is also sniper fire and random violence. Sigh.
Lesley
Cool — I had no idea you could find cashew trees in Mexico. Just sent a sample of State of Wonder to my Kindle. Thanks!
tita buds
We have a cashew tree in my parents’ backyard but I also haven’t tasted the fruit yet. I might have to try it next time. The nuts are of course roasted and slightly salted and is better than popcorn. 😉
Velani Diz
If you liked the cashew you should probably visit Natal, in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. There lives the biggest cashew tree in the world, with 8500 m² an single tree and the northeast part of the country has an very different culinary from the rest of it.
I don’t know if they took you to taste brigadeiro, which is a very common chocolate candy in brazil, very easily done. I don’t know if it has arrived in mexico, but its very tasty. It’s found in every birthday party.
And just for knowledge, the name of the drink is caipIrinha and not caipArinha as you wrote. It’s a very common mistake among tourists and I guess it’s because we speak fast the word. Or not. I can’t really figure that out.
Hope you enjoyed my city and congratulations for the blog. It’s very interesting and easy reading.
Mirna
I found your blog by accident yesterday and I loved all your posts, but the one I love the most is your saying about “carne de Chinameca.” I lived my childhood there and it is exactly how I remember the carne. Thank you for bringing back memories.
I have been kept on reading your blog ever since just to found out you have visited several places I have been.
From all the writings I read from you, it called my attention the caju fruit from Brazil, the name in Spanish is “Marañón” and you can also find marañón trees in Chinameca,I remember having some trees in our backyard, as well as “caimitos”, another delicious fruit. Mexico exported marañón from Acapulco, Gro. to France during the 1980’s I don’t know if they still do. The caimitos I have also found it with the same name in Puerto Rico.
Lesley
Hi Mirna: I’m glad you found me, and thanks for your comment. What a coincidence about growing up in Chinameca. And thank you for the translation on the caju tree — I wasn’t aware that it was called marañon. The cashew nut itself is called “nuez de la India” here, which I think confused me, having not heard anyone mention “nuez de la India” trees. I’ll look for them next time I’m in that part of Veracruz or Tabasco. Saludos and hope you are well!
Michelle
I was looking for some tips about ashrams in India and ended up reading about my city, são paulo =) I loved the way you write! Really funny to see your perceptions and I really have to agree with u… pão de queijo is the best !
congrats for the blog !
Lesley Tellez
Thank you Michelle! Appreciate you stopping by.