Brazilian Cuisine - Daily Meals

Daily Meals

• Breakfast,¹ the café-da-manhã (literally, "morning coffee"): Every region has its own typical breakfast. It is common to find tropical fruits, typical cakes, tapioca, cuscuz, grilled ham-and-cheese-sandwiches, bread and butter, mortadella, ham, cheese, requeijão, ham and cheese, ham and requeijão, smoked turkey and cheese, smoked turkey and requeijão, honey, or jam, and the drink can be sweetened coffee, juice, hot chocolate, café com leite, or sweetened tea.

• Elevenses or brunch,² the lanche-da-manhã (literally, "morning snack"): Juices, fruits, light sandwiches, crackers and cookies are the most common snacks if one eats a breakfast really early at morning, while others may eat a more hearty lunch-like meal if they didn't have breakfast at all.

• Midday dinner or lunch,¹ the almoço: Normally this is the biggest meal. Rice is a staple of the Brazilian diet, albeit it is not uncommon to eat pasta instead. It is usually eaten together with boiled dry legumes and some other kind of protein, and may be served together with farofa (a toasted flour of manioc or corn), polenta, salads and/or cooked vegetables.

• Tea,² the lanche-da-tarde (literally "afternoon snack"): It is a meal had between lunch and dinner, and basically everything people eat in the breakfast, they also eat in the afternoon snack. Nevertheless, fruits are less common.

• Night dinner or supper,¹ the jantar: For most Brazilians, jantar is a light affair, while others dine at night. Soups, salads, pasta, hamburgers or hot-dogs, pizza or repeating midday dinner foods are the most common dishes.

• Late supper,² the ceia: Brazilians eat soups, salads, pasta and what would be eaten at the elevenses if their jantar was a light one early at the evening and it is late at night or dawn. It is associated with Christian holidays, for example.

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