Lunch Brazilian style Feijoada

The Feijoada began with a glass of Caipirinha — a drink of lime and ice, sugar and, one guesses a Brazilian white rum? — that I’d enjoyed several times already on National Days in the Ambassador’s Residence. I confess I found the Hyatt’s Caipirinha somewhat too sweet for my taste. Caipirinha, Newsday learned, is also made with passion fruit juice in place of lime. I decided to give it a miss.

After the drink, lunch began with half a demi-tasse cup of Black Bean Soup with Bacon (delicious) and side accompaniments of Perola de Quiejo (Cheese Pearls - small balls stuffed with melted cheese), Pastel de Camarao (Shrimp Pastels that looked like - but weren’t — Won Tons that had stayed too long in the deep fryer) and, oh bliss, Fried Cassava strips.

Why oh why is it that while every restaurant and many a housewife “Down the Main” in Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and all points South where cassava is on the menu, make this delectable delicacy — and lighter than air rolls of Cassava Bread, too, but here in TT it seems no one knows how, or cares to cook cassava (known as yucca in Spanish speaking countries) that melts in the mouth?

Salad came next on the menu with an even more bewildering variety of vegetables than on Argentine Nights. There were two kinds of lettuce (Romaine/Cos and curly local), Watercress, Arugula/Rocket (Rucula in Brazilian), Cucumbers, a Brazilian Potato Salad with Carrots, Green Peas, Raisins, Leeks and Egg. There was Tomato Salad (Salad de batatas e maionese — no prizes for guessing the last word is mayonnaise in English), and olives (Azeltonas), Broccoli (Brocolis) Carrots (Cenora), Beets (Beterrabas) Green peas (Vagem) Corn (Milho), White onions with Olive Oil and Herbs, Oranges (Laranjas) Button mushrooms (Cogumelos marinades), Eggplant/Melongene and Roasted Vegetables.

With an eye on the main course laid out on the buffet, I skipped the potato salad, helped myself to mushrooms and a selection of other salads and found out, too late, from others at the table that I missed a treat when I gave the melongene a miss.

Next came the piece de resistance of meats served with black bean sauce, and rice or cassava flour to counteract the fat in the meat dishes.

Traditionally, a Feijoada is a meal developed by slaves on the sugar plantations, the meats should be pork, or rather, offal — pig trotters, pig tail, pig snout, pig ears, in short all the parts of the pig that never appear on the estate owner’s table.

Remember the dates - the second Saturday in the month, for the next and every other Feijoada in the Waterfront Restaurant, and if the second Argentine night is any guide, you’d be well advised to make reservations for lunch on March 14.