Rio de Janeiro is to fresh produce what Saudi Arabia is to oil. Pop into one of the city's ubiquitous open-air feiras and you'll find yourself surrounded by deep-green elephant ear-sized couve (collard greens), rotund passionfruit, and freshly shaved white coconut to throw onto a dessert or into a sweet tapioca pancake sandwich. Then comes the carnivorous abundance: tender disks of picanha steak served on long skewers, and white-meat filets from the mighty Amazonian pirarucú fish.
Food, in other words, is a gateway to a city known both for its staggering inequality and for its unique brand of integration, from its favelas and working-class north and west zones to the Port Zone.
Editor’s Note: Eater is not updating international maps at this time given disruptions to global travel during the COVID-19 crisis.
Price key:
$ = Less than 50 BRL (15 USD)
$$ = 50 - 100 BRL (15 - 30 USD)
$$$ = 100 - 200 BRL (30 - 55 USD)
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