Feijoada from Brazil

 

Feijoada: a national dish

Feijoada is the national dish of Brazil and the most popular food of the country. This is the most traditional Brazilian dish you could try and a must for every tourist who visits the country.

There are different ways to prepare feijoada, but the basic recipe usually is the same and contains pork, chorizo, bacon, onion, black beans, garlic, salt, oil, and pepper. The original recipe of feijoada contains all parts of the pig. This includes parts such as the tale, ears, and nose. But since some people don't like finding such parts of the pig in their food (especially tourists), often they are not added.

This dish takes some hours of preparation, especially for those who are new at it. And some of its ingredients, such as the black beans, need to be soaked overnight. Therefore, if you want to cook a feijoada for the first time, you should start planning on it and working on it one day before. And depending on the recipe you will follow, you might even need extra time to find all the ingredients, since some recipes include a large amount of them.

Feijoada: how to eat it

Feijoada is a very heavy dish and that's why it is usually eaten for lunch and before taking a nap (traditionally on Sundays and holidays). This dish usually is accompanied with rice, farofa, and/or oranges. Feijoada should be served on top of rice and surrounded by oranges and/or farofa. Brazilians often accompany feijoada with caipirinha, a traditional Brazilian beverage.