Portable eateries are the US' latest food craze. One of the best draws from Brazil's rich culinary culture.
The latest food craze in the United States appears to be travelling trucks which roam the country sharing different food cultures.
One of the stars of these travelling food roadshows is the Brazilian Ta Bom Truck, the first lonchera to hit the streets of Los Angeles at the hands of mother Ilse and twin daughters Juliana and Jaqueline.
From their truck, the family serve from a menu of homemade Brazilian food ranging from salgadinhos (appetisers), such as coxinhas and pastels, to satisfying meals such as cachorro quente (a Brazilian-style hot dog), hamburgao and burritos.
Their website tracks their location, and wherever they go they are greeted by big crowds anticipating fantastic food. It's the latest incarnation of a cuisine with a long history.
Long before the Portuguese arrived in Brazil in 1500, the Tupi-Guarani Indians were planting manioca (cassava, which is potato-like in appearance), making tapioca and a breadcrumb-like flour called farofa.
The Portuguese brought with them the fresh, fragrant flavours of cinnamon, cloves, citrus fruits and sweets to add to the staple diet of rice and black beans.
The Brazilians have comida por quilo restaurants; buffet restaurants where food is paid for by weight and unusual pizza toppings on thin, wood-fired pizza bases are accompanied by little sauce but lashings of guava jam and cheese, banana and cinnamon, creamy cheese (catupiry) and chicken, plus chocolate for good measure.
The gauchos (cowboys) are fans of churrasco, chunks of meat soaked in a brine of vinegar, lemon juice and garlic before being placed on metal rods and cooked over hot coals (this style of cooking is found at Wildfire restaurant in Auckland).
Patricia, the Brazilian fiance of a colleague of mine, makes a sensational potato salad that accompanies the churrasco.
The maionese salad consists of potatoes simmered in water, drained and, whilst warm, dressed with a herb vinaigrette. Cooked, diced carrot, beans, palm hearts, onion and parsley are added and bound with rich mayonnaise.
In Espirito Santo, they have a beautiful fish and tomato stew called moqueca capixaba, made for the past 300 years in a clay pot, the stew coloured with annatto seeds.
In the Amazon rainforests, the Indian and Portuguese populations live on a diet of fish, yams, peanuts, palm or tropical fruits, alongside a popular dish called caruru do para, a one-pot meal of dried prawn, okra, onion, tomato, coriander and dende oil (crimson-coloured oil extracted from palm tree pulp).
The northeast is a dry, semi-arid region used for cattle farming and growing sugar cane and cacao. Residents' diets are based on dried meat, beans, goat and cornmeal.
Dry, open savannahs in the central-west region contain a national jewel - the famous Pantanal, one of the finest game and fishing regions on earth. The world's largest tropical wetland nurtures an astonishing array of animal species.
So where Pele learnt to kick a coconut before becoming a Brazilian icon, the food is just as good.
Churrasco of beef
Chicken pastel
