July Soul Food in Nineteenth Century Brazil

Brazilian Feijoada, recipes below

Doing a series of post on the month of July and foodways based on research I did for my book Hog and Hominy http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14638-8/hog-and-hominy. Today I came across Henry Koster’s July 16, 1817 description of slave culture and cuisine in the port of Recife, Pernambuco where the Portuguese traded large cargoes of enslaved Africans. The northeast captaincy of Pernambuco represented one of Brazil’s two principal sugar-producing regions along with Bahia and Recife was Brazil’s most important sugar port and the commercial hub of Pernambuco. “The slaves which are usually brought to Pernambuco are known under the names Angola, Congo, Rebolo [Guinea], Anjico [no clue], Gabon, and Mozambique,” observed Koster. Masters in the region distributed manioc [cassava] flour, jerked and salted beef, and sometimes salt fish especially cod. To these rations enslaved Africans added their knowledge of foraging for food and farming to make soul food dishes like feijoada which is kissing cousins to hoppin’ and John. Recipes below:

Complete Step by Step Feijoada Recipe on Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGhqEmAa3qM

Traditional Feijoada Recipe
http://www.maria-brazil.org/feijoada.htm

Vegan Feijoada Recipe
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10331?section=19