Tasty Travels: PizzaRio!

Brazilians have fun with their pizza.

While in Brazil, I had pizza on at least 4 occassions. Normally, I'd never eat pizza so many times in one week, but the fun flavors and creativity kept it interesting for me.

Ketchup, Mustard, & Mayo

Their pizzas are very light on sauce. Instead, Brazilians prefer to squirt ketchup on top of their pizza slice. When ordering pizza in a restaurant in Brazil, the waiter will also provide a pile of ketchup, mustard, and mayo packets for this reason. I can see how the sweet tomato ketchup and creamy mayo go well on pizza (and confirmed this with a few bites with these condiments), but I didn't get the courage to try the mustard with my slices!

Catupiry Cheese

You'll also have the option to order pizza with Catupiry cheese. This Brazilian cheese is very creamy (almost like cream-cheese) with a delicious smoked flavor. If you order a four cheese pizza in Brazil, I can almost guarantee that Catupiry will be one of the cheeses used.

Sweet Pizzas

It's also quite common to have sweet "Dulce" pizzas on the menu. The pizza below has pineapple, peaches, figs, maraschino cherries, bananas, and cinnamon. Unfortunately it also came with ham, as my dear host family forgot to specify meatless when ordering. It's not easy being vegetarian in Brazil!

Tasty Travels: Mantioca

I just returned from a vacation in Brazil, my first ever trip to South America. Stay tuned for various highlights about the interesting foods I tried in my travels. Up first: Mantioca. (man-tee-oak-ah)

Mantioca is a root vegetable commonly eaten in Brazil. I'd never heard of it before, but it turns out I'd just never heard this name before. Mantioca also goes by several other names including Manioc, Yuca, and Cassava. And I've actually eaten it several times before... Yuca fries at Pollo Tropical (a chain common in Florida where I'm from), Yuca baked with garlic and lemon at a Cuban themed dinner party, and Tapioca pudding - yes, Tapioca! - it's derived from the Cassava root. And according to Wikipedia, Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for meals in the world.

On this trip I ate Mantioca several times, in two main ways, sometimes both in the same meal:

1.) Mantioca Fries. Deep fried and lightly salted. They are starchier and thicker than french fries and incredibly satisfying. I had these at least 4 times throughout the trip including several restaurants, buffets, and the home-made fries below:

2.) Farofa (Toasted Manioc Flour). Similar in texture to panko bread crumbs, farofa is served along with Feijoada (fay-joe-ah-da), the national dish of Brazil. Feijoada is a bean stew, usually loaded with meat (but not on my plate!). It is traditionally served with a garnish of chopped collard greens, Farofa for texture, and Orange Slices. Careful though, sometimes Farofa is prepared with bacon grease. Pictured below, a sprinkling of farofa over my friend's traditional (meaty) Feijoada plate.

For a taste of Brazil at home, check out this recipe for Vegan Feijoada courtesey of Vegetarian times: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10331

Fake Meat at O'hare

I’m tired of the usual Vegetarian airport options - pizza, pre-made salads (most with chicken already on them), and the same caprese sandwich offered at every stand. So I was excited to find Cibo Express tucked away in O’hare’s Terminal 2, hidden in a hallway connecting concourses B&C to E&F. I had discovered it once on a prior visit, but couldn’t recall where in the airport it was, and after several failed attempts at finding it again was convinced it was just a foggy dream. Now I’m writing down the location so I won’t forget!

While Cibo express is far from perfect – the prices are high and several items did not have price labels– its offerings are a big improvement from the usual airport fare. The shelves are stocked with all natural products (like Late July Dark Chocolate sandwich cookies) and international chocolates (Ritter Sport - yum!). Their vegetarian sandwiches have flair - like a sandwich with homemade boursin cheese, apples, cheddar, and arugula. And most importantly to me – to my knowledge they are the only vendor in the airport that serves what I am always craving – “fake meat”!

The Chicago O’hare Cibo Express has fresh food from Soul Vegetarian Restaurant on Chicago’s southside. Tonight I dined on “Barbecue Bites”, seitan sticks in a sweet barbecue sauce, for $5.99. Also on offering from Soul Vegetarian were a Jerk Tofu Wrap and a “Buffalo” plate with buffalo “chicken” and celery sticks. For $2.50 more I added a healthy side of Cibo's own roasted root vegetables.

According to the website, Cibo Express also has a location in O’hare’s Terminal 3 by gate H1.

See their website to see the listing of other airports Cibo Express can be found at: http://www.otgmanagement.com/concepts-and-locations/. Different local caterers may be featured at their various locations. For example, I always look forward to a protein packed “chicken” salad sandwich at La Guardia’s Cibo Express.