It's mango season!

The time has come for me to describe all of the delicious and nutritious cuisine, cookery, chow, and confection that I have been consuming. Let me start by saying that in general, the food here is d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. The mom of the host family that I'm staying with is an excellent cook (don't worry mom, I still like your cooking best), and she's put together a few Brazilian food "experiences" for me to try.

The first day I got to Brazil, I had pao de queijo which literally

means "cheese bread." I have no idea how

they make these, but it's bread on the outside with cheese in the middle that's really soft and almost sticky. We have these about every week at each staff meeting at school :)

Pao de queijo

Looks: 8

Taste:8

In Brasilia, they have these places called feiras, (pronounced feta). They're open markets where people can set up booths (or rent out a booth) and sell pretty much anything.

Also, if they see you looking at

whatever they are selling, they can AND WILL come up to you and ask multiple times, in portuguese, if you

would like to try it on/ look at it closer/ taste it. They also have lots of different types of foods there :) The first time my host family and I went to just a small market in the middle of Brasilia and got "tapioca." It's made from the same root as tapioca pudding, but they grind it up and cook it like a pancake and then stuff it with cheese, coconut, and fruity goodness. (The one on the left is plain, the one on the right is cheese, coconut and mango)

Tapioca

Looks: 5

Taste: 8

Probably one of the strangest vegetables I've ever tried.....

It's called chuchu (shoe-shoe). I think it tastes like the "trunk" of broccoli, but it looks like a green brain on the outside before it's cut up! Chuchu is grown here, so it's really cheap and people who grow it in their yards like to give it away to Americans who are afraid of any green food.

(Pictures are before and after it's cooked)

Chuchu

Looks: 5

Taste: 6

I'm not going to get into all of the scrumptious fruits they have here that I've never even heard of because that could take all day and I still have lesson plans to prepare for tomorrow. After all of this, I might just teach them about all of the junk food we eat in the US... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2092071/Stacey-Irvine-17-collapses-eating-McDonalds-chicken-nuggets-age-2.html

Most importantly... here in Brazil, mangos (my fave fruit) are in season!!

Mango

LOOKS: 10

TASTE: 10

#morePLEASE