Rio Carnival 2012: Best street foods for partying all day (and night)

by Jessica Marati on

It’s impossible to survive consecutive days of Carnival blocos, parties, and parades without adding hits of nutrition to your daily beer diet. For this, Rio de Janeiro’s street food vendors have you covered.

Street food can be found everywhere in Rio de Janeiro, particularly during big events like Carnival and New Year’s. Mobile carts and stands offer cheap, tasty Brazilian eats — vital for travelers struggling to stay on a budget in a city where a side order of restaurant french fries can cost upwards of 25 reais (US$14). Though much of the fare isn’t healthy by a long shot, there are specialties that will fill you up without throwing you into a food coma that will render you incapable anything beyond a nap on Ipanema Beach. Here’s what’s kept me going all week.

Espetinhos
Brazil’s version of shish kabob, espetinhos are tasty morsels of barbequed meat on a stick. The most common are sausage and chicken, and many Brazilians add ketchup or hot sauce and throw some farinha de mandioca, a type of crunchy flour, on top.

Milho verde
After a few days at Carnival, you may start experiencing an intense craving for salad, greens, or any food that isn’t deep fried and over salted. Get your vegetable fix with boiled corn-on-the-cob, served with butter.

Quiejo coalho
For a shot of dairy, try quiejo coalho, a type of salty Brazilian cheese that is served grilled on a stick. Beware addiction.


Tapioca
If you’ve never tried fried tapioca, you’re in for a treat. Vendors cook the tapioca powder in a pan until it turns a pancake-like consistency, then they add a sweet or savory filling, like chocolate or dried meat. The Brazilian guys ahead of me recommended a traditional combination of coconut, sweet cheese, and condensed milk. Delicious.

Caipirinhas
Okay, so it’s not actually a food. And check out all that sugar! But ask your vendor to cut back on the white stuff and add extra lime, and you have a refreshing beverage that will keep you dancing in the streets late into the night. And that’s what you’re looking for, right?

Check out Gadling’s full range of Rio Carnival 2012 coverage here.

Caipirinha Recipe

by Erik Olsen on

I took a lot of guff in the comments section for my light-hearted examination of male-oriented libations. Seems some folks took me a little too seriously. But that’s OK, at least we know you’re reading. But this time around, I’ll stray from making any kind of off-color or otherwise homo-phobic remarks as I bring you a post from sister-site Slashfood on the magic elixir that is the caipirinha.

I once wrote about the glories of ths sweet, but potent drink in a rambling essay on Brazil’s Carnaval that you can read here. I count myself among the worst dancers to inhabit the planet, but after a few of these drinks, I became an impossibly-limber, jangly-legged mixture of John Travolta, Samba-master and Napoleon Dynamite. And all the years since, I’ve kinda wondered how to make one of these fine drinks.

Well, I have to wait no longer as the post here points you directly to a recipe that reveals how easy the caipirinha is to make, even i the word itself is still quite hard to pronounce, let alone spell.