Food on Swords
One of the things you soon discover about Brazilians (especially if you are a non-meat eater1) is that they love their meat. Nowhere is this love better expressed than at the churrascaria, where meat from an enormous variety of animals (including caiman and capybara) is grilled over a charcoal or wood fire on skewers. However, because they love meat so much, I’m fairly sure that Brazilians would regard the small wooden or steel skewers we’re familiar with as suitable only for children. “Call that a skewer”, they’d say, Crocodile Dundee style, “this is a skewer!”, whereupon they would pull out something that looks remarkably like a medieval broadsword.
Another rather wonderful thing about eating out in Brazil is that sharing is the norm. No-one buys a beer just for themselves (or even a round of beer in individual glasses or bottles), rather you buy one or more large-ish bottles, ask for the requisite number of glasses, and share. Food is also often shared, and it’s common to get a rodizio service in restaurants, whereby you pay a set price and they keep bringing a variety of food to the table which you share, until you’re so full you beg them not to bring any more.
