Despite the initial Portuguese influence, and later the French and others, inhabitants of Amazonia did not lose the general habit of consuming regional food and drinks, preserving, mainly in the inland, a very lively tradition trait.
The essential dishes, of long tradition, are fish and game (quadrupeds and birds) as well as chelonians, saurian, and cetaceans are added. Common fish—jaraqui, pacu, sardine, acará and others of smaller size—can be consumed on the spot or preserved in wraps of pacova-saraca and arumã leaves, after being stewed or roasted on fire. In the absence of beiju or cassava, they are served for breakfast.
The following are larger fish: tucunaré, tambaqui, dourado, matrinchã and others. They can be stewed or roasted on fire, or even served “European style,” stuffed with condiments, or even shredded. Pirarucu can be kept dry in blankets (piraém). It is usual to eat it shredded and cooked with chestnut milk.
REGIONAL DISHES
Caldeirada - the indigenous and caboclos used it in the great communal festivals, employing at once all sorts of small or large fish, cut in pieces.
Peixada – general name to the preparation of certain fish species, in the regional way, by cooking or roasting.
Tartarugada - not only the hawksbill sea turtle but the Amazonian turtles, all animals are served more or less commonly, depending on the season. A turtle can yield several qualities of dishes: hoof, paxicá, breast, sarapatel, stew, mujanguê, arabu, abuna, and other varieties.
Tacacá - the composition is made of tapioca flour with hot water, which results in the whitish “grub,” also called “gum.” A good portion of jambu and parsley is added, as well as some salt. Shrimp and leaves are added later, before serving the dish. The original tacacá of Indigenous origin did not accept seafood, but cooked fish or meat tassels.
REGIONAL
Guereré - stew made with the dorsal vertebrae and the thick gut of pirarucu.
Quibebe - dish composed of cooked jerimum pasta and milk of cattle or tocari (Brazil nut), dried cassava flour or water.
Roupa Velha - a very common food among rubber tappers and rural workers, prepared with the leftover meat of the eve migrated and seasoned, to which flour is added.
Arubé - made with the juice of cassava exposed to the sun, thickened with starch and seasoned with tucupi.
Tucupi - extracted from the poisonous juice of cassava, which is mixed with water and boiled to lose the poisonous content. It is left to sour overnight, then add parsley, garlic, a few pieces of chili pepper leaf, fragments of cassava leaf, and cooked, thus eliminating the poisonous principle.
Chibé - food of circumstance widely disseminated among Indigenous and Caboclos, prepared simply with cassava flour, fresh water, and honey bee or sugar.
Mojica - fish cooked with seasonings, typical food of Roraima.
Damorida - food used in Roraima, consists of an entire fish cooked until it dismantles, then passed through a sieve, added pepper and the eaten with beiju.
Piracuí - fish flour. The fish is baked, deboned, squeezed in the rensa or tipiti, seasoned with salt and oven-dried.
Recife, July 22, 2003.
sources consulted
ALIMENTAÇÂO Amazônica. Foto nesse texto. Disponível em: <http://www.amazonas.am.gov.br/o-amazonas/gastronomia/>. Acesso em: 21 jul. 2003.
how to quote this text
Amazonian FOOD. In: PESQUISA Escolar. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, 2003. Available from:https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/pt-br/artigo/alimentacao-amazonica-ver-tambem-cozinha-amazonica/. Access on: mês dia ano. (Ex.: Aug. 6, 2020).