Brazilian Cookbooks (Yummy!)

This is a very small selection; there are plenty more excellent and beautiful books out there these days. All our books are now at the Sheila Thomson Collection of Brazilian Culture at Florida International University in Miami. If you are interested in culinary research, etc., please contact Special Collections at the main library.

Cachaça Artesanal. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Senac Nacional, 2001. From the folks at Senac, who bring us all these wonderful books about Brazilian foods, here's one for cachaça lovers...everything you've always wanted to know and were afraid to ask!
Culinária Amazônica. Rio de Janeiro:Editora Senac Nacional, 2000. Well, here's the Amazon one. It comes with a preface by Márcio Souza, the author of The Emperor of the Amazon. You might not be able to cook most of these foods, since they require native ingredients unavailable in the US, but you can learn about the local culture. Your coffee-table will be envied by all your friends. Among the recipes that can be prepared here, is a sweet made with Brazil nuts. We learned how to make these over there and have our version of the recipe.
Sabores e Cores das Minas Gerais. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Senac Nacional, 1998. The recipes from the regional cuisine of Minas in this coffee-table book are totally yummy and the photographs even more. Not only the food, but gorgeous pottery and other crafts from that state. Little fun stories about the folklore associated with the foods and eating habits of mineiros, too. This book charms every single visitor to my home! They also have one about Bahian cuisine, another about the foods of the Amazon region...We'll eventually own all of them!
eatsmart.gif (6309 bytes)Eat Smart in Brazil. How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods & Embark on a Tasting Adventure. Joan and David Peterson.Madison, Wisconsin: Gingko Press, Inc., 1995. Well, the title says all. The book includes helpful phrases, Brazilian menus, and a comprehensive glossary of ingredients and cooking methods in Portuguese with English translations.
Tasting Brazil: Regional Recipes and Reminiscences. Jessica B. Harris. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. This is the first time in a long time that reading a book made me long to go running back to Brazil to drink fresh coconut water on the beach!

Maria's Cookbook