I just got back from a week-long work trip to Búzios, Brazil, my first trip to South America. While the majority of time was spent working, it did give me a flavor of this wonderful country.
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| Sunset |
Travel time was quite lengthy. Rio de Janeiro is a 10 hour (overnight) flight from Atlanta, and Buzios is about a 4 hour drive from Rio. (On the way back I flew Rio- Sao Paulo- Atlanta. Sao Paulo is probably the glitziest airport I've ever seen, like a high-end mall with some departure gates thrown in.) I can't sleep on planes at all, so if this post sounds loopy, it is because I am quite sleep-deprived.
Buzios is an upscale coastal resort town, apparently made famous by the French actress Brigette Bardot. She is credited with transforming this sleepy fishing village into an internationally renowned vacation destination.
I stayed at the Hotel Atlantico, where you can walk down the steps directly onto the beachfront, dotted with restaurants and boutique shops. It is off-season there now (being winter in the Southern hemisphere), which just meant it was less crowded with absolutely perfect temperatures- in the late 60s to early 70s (F) the whole time.
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| More sunset |
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| Photo taken by one of my colleagues |
A memorable part of this trip was a morning spent hiking. We walked along the beach (orla Bardot), then scrambled on the cliff, walked up trails and down on the other side to Praia Tartaruga (turtle beach). The hike was led by a local marine biologist who specializes in species that live in the intertidal zones. He showed us several creatures that I would have totally overlooked if not for his expert eye.
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| On the hike |
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| Most coastal cacti |
I was fascinated by the native cacti in the coastal cliffs. Apparently the cacti flourish here because it is quite a dry climate.
There are a few stray dogs in town, but better described as "community dogs" because it seems locals take care of them, local businesses feed them and let them sleep indoors. They look healthy and well-fed. Two dogs accompanied us throughout our hike, delighting the group. They are clever and know how to find fresh water collected in some of the bowl-like cacti.
After the hike, the rest of the group stayed to enjoy the beach, but I was tired and walked back to the hotel with the guide to rest and prepare for a workshop I was teaching later in the day. I was rewarded by a sighting of cute little (and they are truly tiny)
capuchin monkeys who, far from being afraid, scampered out of the trees to stare curiously at me.
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| Can you spot two capuchin monkeys? |
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Our "guide dog" cleverly finding
fresh drinking water |
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| Black vultures were everywhere |
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| Buffet plate |
Brazilian food is meat and seafood-heavy, and vegetarian food was not always easy to find. One good option was the
"por quilo" buffets where a wide variety of food is set out, and you fill a plate and pay by weight. There was one such buffet in Buzios, and another at the rest stop between Buzios and Rio, and I was grateful for these. Although the majority of buffet dishes were off limits for me, I could fill a plate with brown rice, black beans, fresh and cooked veggies, and sometimes extras like cassava fries (aipim frito) and garlic bread, like in the pic here. I would always get a limonada (lemonade) with the meal, and it was always excellent and somehow better than any lemonade I've had before.
The hotel served a breakfast buffet every morning. I enjoyed good coffee, fresh fruit (amazing pineapple and mango), oatmeal with toppings like cinnamon and chia seeds, scrambled eggs. There were a variety of breads set out, and loads of desserts- imagine whole cakes and puddings for breakfast. The one snack available everywhere are pao de quiejo, small bread bites baked from dough of cassava flour with egg and cheese.
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| Pao de quiejo |
[This is a snack that I get to eat often at home in Georgia, because one of my best friends is Brazilian and she will often bring some over when we get together for a meal. A lady from Atlanta makes and sells these frozen (ready to bake). My friend orders it via text and the lady sells them out of her car trunk in a Target parking lot ha ha!]
There was one other person in our group who was vegan, and she and I exchanged notes on the veg-friendly options we found. On the very last night, we fortuitously found that a restaurant right next to our hotel served vegan versions of a couple of Brazilian dishes- and we got to enjoy vegan ceviche and vegan moqueca, traditionally a coconut-based seafood stew.
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| Vegan moqueca |
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| Vegan ceviche |
Other times, I managed to find that one veg option in restaurants. Once it was a spaghetti with plenty of vegetables. It hit the spot on a rainy evening.
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| Can never go wrong with pasta and veg |
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| Oh too cheesy vegetarian risotto |
Another time it was this vegetarian risotto- but it was super cheesy. I do eat a bit of cheese but don't like strong, funky cheeses and this definitely had aged parmesan or something- this was a meal I did not enjoy. I should really look for vegan options rather than vegetarian to avoid cheese altogether.
Below is what I ate at the opening reception- it was a pretty fancy restaurant with a couple of vegan options- I had the sweet potato puree served with an eggplant cutlet topped with sauteed veg. It was delicious, and someone else at the table got a bowl of black beans with their meal that they didn't care for, so I got to eat that for some added hearty protein.
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| Eggplant cutlet with veg and sweet potato puree |
I looked for a vegetarian restaurant in Buzios and found one named Samsara- the first floor was a hippie store selling incense and idols and tie-dye...and the second floor was a tiny restaurant with just one employee- a sweet young woman. I got a lunch called "basic vegan" and it was anything but basic. It came with two platters- one with lentils, brown rice and two types of hummus. The other with a chickpea patty surrounded by roasted potatoes, steamed sweet potatoes, salad and cabbage. As with most food I encountered in Brazil, it is not spiced, and was seasoned only with a little salt. This meal was so satisfying with the plethora of veggies, and I had enough leftovers to eat for dinner.
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| "Basic vegan" plate(s) |
The coffee breaks at the conference had lots of wonderful cookies, many different varieties, often typical Brazilian ones with a filling of jam or guava paste or chocolate. And those wonderful elephant ears made of puff pastry.
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| Cookies |
Brazil is, of course, a Portuguese speaking country, and I got by with a translation app, lots of smiles and gestures, a heartfelt "obrigada", and the occasional colleague who could translate for me. People were kind and friendly and quite patient with me. If you can speak Spanish, you can get by; they are similar enough languages.
I've never been to Brazil before, but something about the locale and people feels familiar. For instance, driving through Rio reminded me very much of Mumbai.
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Rio on a rainy afternoon
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| Art in Atlanta airport |
Not counting India (which is amazing for vegetarians and also pretty great for vegans), I found England to be surprisingly veg friendly. The Czech republic was the hardest for me. I think I lived on beer and fries for a couple weeks there.
If you're vegetarian or vegan, what have been the most and least veg-friendly travel locales you've been in?
Such a delightful post!! I loved reading about your travels and food adventures. Of the countries I have visited in South America - Argentina, Brazil and Peru, I found Peru to be the most vegetarian-friendly. I haven't eaten tastier vegetables anywhere else! The carrots were "carrotier" than any other carrot I've eaten; ditto for all the veggies I ate there. It was such a wonderful surprise as I did not expect this.
ReplyDeleteJapan was another lovely surprise; they have a fantastic tradition of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine that is utterly delicious. Many countries in Europe are becoming increasingly vegetarian friendly; Italy tops the list, I think, and the UK has long shed its reputation for bland, water-logged horrors. Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia all have delicious vegetarian choices. I found China and Korea to be quite challenging, and the language barrier did not help (this was many years ago, well before Google Translate's ability to rescue us). Their understanding of vegetarian food then was anything that had vegetables in it!
Hi Kamini- You are very well-traveled! How wonderful about the vegetables in Peru, and I know just what you mean about vegetables tasting different when they're farm-grown versus on an industrial scale for long distance shipping. My mother commented once that the US bell peppers are huge and bright and beautiful but taste quite watery. The subzi mandi green peppers are knobby and small but very tasty.
DeleteVegetarian cuisine in Japan sounds wonderful! I agree that the UK was fantastic- a veg option on every single menu- that was a pleasant surprise.
Sorry for that long anonymous comment - I hit Publish accidentally before I could read through.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great experience! I've never been to south america but would love to get there one day. Your hike sounds like a great way to see more of the place. Nice to see a monkey - I think I spotted one in the picture. Always interesting to hear about how you went finding vegetarian food in another country. Sounds like you did pretty well. Though it sounds like it might have been tougher for your vegan colleague. I love your basic vegan lunch. That is my sort of meal.
ReplyDeleteOf all the foreign countries I have travelled I find the UK the best for vegetarian food but would love to get to India and sample all the veg food there.
Good luck getting a good rest at home! The family must be very happy to see you back!
Johanna- this was my first trip to South America as well- a fascinating continent with enormous biodiversity. My vegan colleague ate so much fruit- that was the one vegan food that was plentiful and delicious! She also found vegan options in a sushi restaurant- there were options, you just had to hunt for them and walk a good distance to get there, which is often difficult when eating in a group.
DeleteYou will absolutely love India for the amazing vegetarian cuisines.
Your trip sounds amazing! I hope that it was a good conference and I am glad that you could find some time to explore as well. I agree with Kamini - China was tough, between the language barrier and the concept that "meat as a seasoning" somehow wasn't meat. Nepal was great, and I have been positively surprised at a lot of the vegetarian food I've found in the rural US. There's usually either someone whose immigrant family put down roots and opened a restaurant, and/or someone whose dream it was to open a farm-to-table place right next to the farm. And like you said, there's always fries and beer :)
ReplyDeleteHi Bek! Hope summer is going well. The conference was hectic, SO MANY TALKS gah- I am sure you can relate. My social battery drains very easily at these conferences. One evening I bought packaged cookies and peanuts and ate those in my room for dinner.
DeleteI can imagine Nepal would be great with veg food- love their momo and veg curries.
I don't know that I have traveled much in the rural US at all, but I hear you on the random Thai restaurant or whatever in the middle of nowhere. On road trips, we tend to stop at diners because there's always breakfast food. Omelets, toast and fruit is a good meal any time of day :)
So glad you got to go to Brazil and love that you have highlighted both the great and not-so-great meals! That's the one reason I love your blog- you also talk about the things that go wrong and that were not great - this is rare on social media today :)
ReplyDeleteI went to china with my family in 2006 and we struggled with food and language. My husband went last year on work and I don't know if it's a combination of going two decades later or with a mandarin colleague, but he had great veg food!!!
Of all my trips, Rajasthan was an amazing food destination. I was all set for amazing dal bhaati churma, but I was surprised with incredible cafes serving all kinds of amazing pizza, pasta and hummus not withstanding restaurants serving the best kachori pyaaz and gatte ki sabzi!! Since rajasthan attracts millions of foreign tourists the incredible cafes are part of their landscape and were authentic, reasonably priced and fantastic. Like you, I find london to be an amazing food city, I have to mention Dishoom, an iconic indian (parsi inspired!) restaurant. I went to Maldives when I was pregnant and got to savour amazing breakfast buffets in my resort. Food is a very important part of travel, and I believe makes or breaks my travel experience. I don't need fancy food but fresh and wholesome food really takes your vacation up a few notches. We did Kutch and stayed in one of those mud hut places and the food was incredible - I can still taste the lobia / chowli with the incredible brajra roti there. Uttarakhand too had amazing kutti ke rotis and this fantastic fire roasted potatoes. I will stop here but say that very little global food can come close to india when it comes to food, though I have done more than my share of foreign travels.