Brazilian Food: Traditional Dishes from the Northeast

One of the best parts of traveling is eating, trying the cuisine in a new place you’re exploring. Thanks to a good stint living in South Florida, I had already tried some traditional Brazilian food.

That’s why I won’t include churrasco in this post (pictured above), even though I love it. I already had my fair share.

Here, I’m going to tell you about the dishes I tried for the first time. (Spoiler alert: the following list of my favorite foods from northeast Brazil will be heavy on seafood.)

I hear that’s one of the significant differences in North and South Brazil's cuisines. The North leans more toward seafood, the South more toward meat. I plan to find out for myself someday, but I’ll focus on what I know for now.

As I tried to decide which ones were best, I considered several factors. The first was taste—that should always be No. 1.

The second was the cost/taste ratio. I don’t mind paying a lot for food I love, but I am annoyed when I eat something average for an exorbitant price.

The final factor was, if I were on a date with Marília, what kind of dish do I think she would like? I believed that we’d be eating together at some point, so I said to myself, “I gotta think about this, too.” That led to this list.

Northeast Brazilian Food

1. Moqueca

Moqueca, a coconut milk soup with lots of seafood, was my favorite traditional Brazilian food. Unfortunately, I had it only once, at Itaparica, an island in the bay by Salvador.

I thought about ordering it in Porto de Galinhas, but I chose another option, something you'll read about soon. 

Prices vary for moqueca. In Olinda, a two-person meal can cost as much as 75 reals ($30), while we paid only 45 reals (about $22) for the same meal in Itaparica.

I thought about eating it more often, but I held out because I still wanted to crave it when I returned to Colombia, so much so that I would learn to make it myself.

2. Peixe

That’s the Portuguese word for fish. This choice ties into what I said during my budget story about treating yourself. Find a place that makes this dish specially, and then devour it.

I did this in Porto de Galinhas, at a place called Peixe na Telha, where I ordered the tilapia topped with capers, mushrooms, and garlic cream sauce. On the side were four small pieces of potatoes and two small pieces of sweet banana, along with rice mixed with broccoli.

I paid 40 reals ($16) and sat at a table overlooking one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.

The restaurant also offered lockers to store your stuff, and the staff was friendly enough to let me go to the special event room upstairs, so I could take a few photos of the aqua-blue water that looked smooth as glass from a distance.

Even without those courtesies and amenities, the dish was enough to make that a memorable dining experience.

3. Acarajé

This is the king of street food in northeast Brazil. The Brasileiros make dough from flour and black-eyed peas and deep-fry it until it’s the size of a fist.

They cut it open and fill it with boiled baby prawns, onions, green tomatoes, two types of paste, and some decent hot sauce if you’re so inclined. And, yes, ma’am, I am. Please put a lot in there.

The best part is that they sell it everywhere, and you can find it for as cheap as two reals, or around 80 cents. Eat two or three, and you’ll be full. Consider it a good meal if you’re budget-conscious or in a hurry.

4. Rodizio

I’ve had this in the United States before, but not with sushi, which is something else I touched on in the budget post.

I was in Recife and kept seeing signs while I was riding the bus: big posters promoting Rodizio Sushi and various restaurants. I settled on a place called Galetus, which seemed to offer a variety of things—nothing really great, but everything decent.

My sushi had too much vinegar in the rice but was otherwise enjoyable. I ate a plate of nigiri and sashimi, two hand rolls (one salmon skin, the other crab), and then two more pieces of nigiri, both with octopus, to finish the meal.

It cost me 40 reals ($16), the same as I would pay for all-you-can-eat sushi in the States on the rare occasion I can find that offer. I had a hard time walking afterward and took a nap when I returned to the hostel.

5. Feijoada

The friendly Brazilians I met in Maceió talked about feijoada a few times, so I figured I had better try it. Luckily, in Recife, the restaurant next door to my hostel boasted that it was the best place in the city for this traditional Brazilian food.

I went by for lunch one day and was surprised by how big the meal was and how fast they prepared it. The cost was 20 reals (about $8). I asked them to deliver it next door, and they were there shortly after I got settled in a seat in the hostel dining area.

The meal consists of two bowls: one with collard greens, rice, and what appeared to be fried and breaded pork skin, and another with black beans mixed with pork, bacon, sausage, and beef.

It shows the African influence and reminds me of something I’d eat in the southern United States, where, as any American knows, African culture came over by way of the slave trade, no different from in South America.

I ate less than half of my feijoada, as I was not hungry, then mixed the leftovers in a pot to heat it up that night for dinner.