Global Food Discussion
Food and Eating Habits
Brazil
This page has some general information about the way Brazilians eat.
Breakfast
Breakfast is a simple affair in Brazil: it consists of coffee, milk, bread and jam (sometimes with cheese and ham), and fresh fruit. One favorite fruit is papaya. Some people might have mangoes or a wonderful avocado cream or, perhaps, a grilled cheese sandwich.
Lunch & Dinner
Whether Brazilians are at home or in a restaurant, mealtime is a time to eat and also to share precious moments with family and friends. It is a wonderful Brazilian custom: a pleasant, sit-down, leisurely paced lunch or dinner. One common question is, "What's the big hurry?" People look forward to family meals. There is a joke in Brazil that if you see people sitting around a table in the U.S., having lunch for longer than half an hour, then it must be a business lunch. Also, the terrible habit of sitting at one's desk or in one's cubicle to eat lunch while working is incomprehensible to most Brazilians, who leave their offices to eat with their colleagues and friends in restaurants and cafés.
As you may have guessed, lunch is usually a more substantial meal in Brazil than it is in the U.S. For lunch and also dinner, Brazilians have wonderful, inexpensive restaurants where homestyle meals are sold buffet-style by the kilo (kilogram). You just pile the food on your plate, and someone will weigh it for you. The same goes for desserts. You order drinks from your waiter and pay at the end of your meal.
Dinner is served much later in Brazil than in the U.S. In the big cities, children are a common sight in restaurants at night, since Brazilians take their children out to dinner at all hours. As a result, Brazilian children learn table manners at an early age. For many Brazilians, dinner at home is a lighter meal of café au lait (coffee mixed half-and-half with hot milk), bread, cheese, and cold cuts. So if you visit, expect either type of meal.
Habits of Eating
When you stop to eat at a lanchonete (snack bar) or at a juice bar, stand around until you finish your food. It's NOT OK to eat on the go. Brazilians do not eat while walking down the street or while riding the bus or the subway. Also, they will not have coffee cups and drinks in their cars. They do enjoy stopping at a juice bar for a sandwich and a glass of freshly squeezed juice, but they always will stand around until they have finished eating. Brazilians find it rude to eat in places that are not meant for that purpose. (They'll have tiny bags of popcorn at the movies, but that's all. Brazilians visiting the U.S. are surprised to discover that Americans typically eat armloads of snacks in a movie theater.) Brazilians drink small–but strong–cups of coffee all day long, at lanchonetes and juice bars.
Utensils
Brazilians will usually use a knife and a fork to eat pizza, fresh fruit, open sandwiches, and even chicken. They are amused and even amazed at the American way of eating such foods with their fingers. Brazilians hold the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right hand (unless they are lefthanded, of course).
Much of the material on this page is the property of Sheila Thomson and is taken from Maria-Brazil Home of Brazilian Culture on the Web.
