It could be considered to be the most national of Brazilian cuisines. It gathers the local traditions of the Indians, enriched and added to by European and African creations, along with components brought by the Japanese, Lebanese and Italian immigrants, among others.

The great contribution of black slaves to Bahian cuisine is palm oil and pepper -chili pepper and Ataré pepper– brought by Africans.

Corn – a plant from the Gramineae family – originated in Central America about 7,000 years ago. Its denomination – zea mays – comes from the Greek word zeia, which means grain, cereal, and is also a homage to the Mayans, one of the important peoples of America.

The 1st Festival of Jewish Culture, an initiative by the Israeli Federation of Pernambuco, was held in November 1991 at the Israelite Centre of Pernambuco (CIP) located in the Torre neighbourhood in Recife.

In place of cooked black beans, maniçoba is a delicacy made with cassava leaves, known as ‘maniva’ in the Northern states. Its name comes from the Tupi “mandi'sowa”, which means cassava leaf.