Brazilian Family Reunion

Audra:
I learned in my Portuguese class that there are “dois Brazis” (two Brazils) in that there is a huge division between the rich and the poor … and it quickly became clear which side of the divide my Brazilian family lives on. They put on the most unbelievable reunion I have ever been too, hands down. Most remarkable has been the FOOD. This family reunion has been the best culinary experience of my life. One meal after the next has been completely amazing.

The first day I was here, we didn’t eat much to report on before dinner. Well, I did have a nutella milkshake, which may have been the best milkshake of my life, but that was relatively minor compared to what came next. And if you don’t looooove food, or if you do love it and can’t handle the envy you will experience, don’t read this post. Save yourself the pain.

Thursday night, we had the reunion’s opening dinner at a relative’s house in Sao Paulo. There were people hired to bring us drinks and hors d’ouvres, and after we’d had an hour or two to catch up with family members and drink, we had a huge buffet-style dinner followed by a dessert buffet featuring the most impressive fruit tray I have ever seen, an unbelievably delicious lemon meringue pie, chocolate pie, and strawberries with whipped cream and meringue. I was in dessert heaven. Meanwhile, people were speaking in Arabic, Portuguese, and English. I would say that if you spoke two out of three, you could communicate with anyone at the dinner. Most of the relatives were either older Brazilians (with close ties to the old country, who therefore spoke Arabic as well as Portuguese) or young Americans (many of whom spoke Arabic as well as English, but I was the only Portuguese speaker). There were also some young Brazilians who could speak English, and one of the hosts spoke all three. I was really glad that I had taken the time to learn some Portuguese, because I really used it a lot.

So, food. Friday’s lunch was the best meal of my life. We went to a churrasqueria (Brazilian steakhouse) and not only was there a buffet (which I didn’t even get to) and a ton of dishes on the table, but there were waiters bringing by a constant stream of fish dishes (Amazonian sushi, salmon casserole, salmon steak, some white fish, bacalhau), multiple curried shrimp dishes, and meat on skewers that they would either carve off (for big pieces of various types of steak or lamb) or pull off (lambchops, sausages, chicken chunks, chicken hearts). They brought by salad. They brought pasta marsala. They brought mushroomy rice and unbelievable fried cheese balls and slices of squid and cheeses. Meanwhile, on the table there was really thinly sliced cured beef with capers or something, which was really delicious, not to mention cornbready things, French-fryey things, tomatoes, palmitos, and bread (like anyone would waste stomach space on bread!) At the same time, I was given the most perfect caipirinha of my life to accompany all the food. For everything I was offered, I would say “un poquinho” but often I was given more than just the one bite I wanted. Anyway, it was the best meal of my life. I took pictures. And did I mention dessert? Flan, chocolate pie, chocolate cake, really cold custardy cake, lemon pie, etc, etc.

Something like 5 hours later, when my stomach was still recovering from lunch, we went to dinner. All of a sudden, there were another 150 Brazilian cousins in attendance. I went around and did my best to meet people and speak to them in Portuguese. We were given a Lebanese buffet with raw kibby (first time I’ve had it!), tabouleh, hummus, baba ganoush, cooked kibby, rice, meats, bread with zatar, and labne. There were all sorts of fruit juices, from pineapple mint to passion fruit. Again, there was an incredible array of fruit for dessert, along with a bunch of other things I didn’t eat because I didn’t want to explode. After dinner there was an Arabic dancing show, in which some 15 people performed in a long series of acts. Then there was open Arabic dancing.

Saturday we were taken on a multi-hour bus tour around a rainy Sao Paulo, then what do you know? Lunchtime! We went to a fazenda (ranch house?) and had a crazy buffet, again, and a lot of free caipirinhas, again. And of course, dessert…. Bananas foster, ice cream, dulce de leche, various fruit compotes, rice pudding.
Some hours later, it was dinnertime. This dinner was more off the heezy than the previous ones, if that’s possible. This typical-of-the-Bahia-region meal started in the lobby of some ridiculous house-cum-restaurant, where there were a vast mulititude of tropical beverages being offered on trays by well-dressed garcons. There were also a lot of appetizers carried on trays and served by some people dressed in elaborate Bahia-style clothing. Finally we started the actual meal, which had a salad course, which was cleared away and followed by palate cleansing sorbet scoop, followed by a sort of chicken pot pie, then the main course of some fish and rice and coconut milk thing that I could hardly eat any of because I was already stuffed. Between courses, a live samba band played and dancers, dressed to the hilt, performed traditional dances. Dessert was coconut ice cream on a meringue boat, on thinly sliced pineapple, with ginger sauce. Caipirinhas were available in regular, red fruits, passion fruit, and kiwi. Afterwards, we went to a really cool little hole in the wall bar where a bunch of guys who looked like they’d just gotten together for a jam session laid down some ridiculously good samba music and I learned the samba with a Brazilian medical student who was really interesting to talk to and fun to dance with!

The last meal of the reunion was brunch this morning, and it had a long table of cold foods, another of hot foods, and a dessert table. Highlights were salmon fillets and ravioli made with buffalo mozzarella. The desserts were also incredible, from nut pie to chocolate torte to flan and brownies and cheesecake.
I hope I still fit in my pants for the rest of the trip! Tomorrow we are off to Iguazu falls. As awesome as the reunion was, I’m pretty tired of meeting new people so I’m looking forward to spending time with just my core family, and also to meeting back up with Carla, who is on a bus right now from Buenos Aires.