Culture in Brazil
photo credit: Denise Mayumi
Brazil is a very multi-cultural and multi-ethnical society which has resulted in a richly diverse country. Much of Brazil’s early culture stems back to the days of the Portuguese Empire, and these influences are seen not only in the language, but also in the styles of the architecture and the catholic religion. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, although Spanish, French and English are also widely spoken in the country.
Many of the original Portuguese settlers married the native women, which created a new race known as the ‘mestizos’. The arrival of African slaves further enhanced Brazil’s ethnical diversity. Mulattoes are the descendants of the Portuguese and the African slaves, and when slavery in Brazil was abolished in 1888, racial lines were blurred even further. The African slaves influenced Brazil’s culture greatly, bringing with them music, cuisine, language, dance and arts. Music styles today include samba, bossa nova, pagoda and many others.
Brazil’s cuisine is just as varied as its culture. Though there are many unique dishes to the country, many of the dishes were brought over by immigrants and refined over the years. There are five main cuisine groups in Brazil, stemming from the five major Brazilian regions. Brazil’s national dish is ‘feijoada‘, a stew made of pork and black beans, usually served with rice. The cuisine of the Northern part of Brazil is heavily Indian influenced, using a lot of root vegetables in their food. In the Central-west, fish and pork are widely used, as it is a region comprising mainly of dry and open savannahs.
The Southeast region of Brazil has much European and African influence, and is the home to many different styles of cooking. The South parts of Brazil were influenced by Europeans, and are famous for their ‘churrasco’ a meal of fresh meats grilled on a wood fire. In the Northeast the predominant cuisine is Afro-Bahian, which sprung from improvising on African, Indian and Portuguese recipes with local ingredients. There are hundreds of restaurants and street stalls all over Brazil, where you can try some of these local ‘lanches‘, or snacks.