In the previous blogpost, the allusion to food was figurative rather than evocative. On the other hand, Salvador is a town whose identity is strongly linked to food; where centuries of history have created a microculture that best expresses itself through religion, music and indeed food.
Salvador was 
founded in the mid-XVI century by Portuguese settlers on the Bahia of Todos os Santos, which gives the name to Salvador's state. The name Bahia can also be used to refer to the city of Salvador. It was soon established as the first capital of colonial Brazil, as well as being the centre of the sugar industry and slave trade. As a result, when the slave trade ended in Brazil, many freed slaves settled in the area; thus creating a strong African-inspired culture, which persists to this day.
Bahia is perhaps one of the destinations which best represents the melting-pot of cultures typical of Brazil, being at the same time one of the iconic places which entice first time travellers to the country. As a Jorge Amado aficionada, I could not miss the opporunity to visit Salvador. Travelling up the coast from Rio I was filled with expectations of sampling Dona Flor's culinary delights, whose exotic names have certainly contributed to my lifelong attraction to Brazil. And I was not to be disappointed.
Salvador is a place which presents itself to the visitors with a series of layers. One may visit the
city as a day tour, or for a couple of days, and not even remotely scratch the surface of what Bahian culture really is. Well, that can be said for a variety of destinations worldwide, but for Salvador even more so as there are not many must-see sights as such; instead the culture is what makes this place unique. In our case, 5 days were surely not enough, however having a great host surely helped. Russell was the first of a string of interesting characters that we encountered during our months on the road. A seasoned traveller, he found what many travellers take look for; paraphrasing Virginia Woolf, a place of one's own. Russell runs Barra Guest House, where we stayed during our time in Salvador. He was dedicated to helping every guest having a great time, and gave us great advice for experiencing the two things I was keen to keen to discover: Bahian food and a Candomble ceremony.
Ingredients of Bahian recipes reflect the African heritage of the town and its seaside location; fish, prawns, beans, coconut milk, chillies, and the most iconic ingredient: Azeite de dende (palm oil). Those who have read Amado's Dona Flor and her two husbands, would know how complicated typical Bahian dishes such as moqueca, vatapa and caruru are; prepared with carefully selected mixtures of spices whose recipes are handed from generation to generation. As such, not only recreating a recipe is nearly impossible, also conveying the flavour of Bahian cuisine in words is likely to be a formidable task. In my opinion, Bahian food is so strongly intertwined with the history and culture of Salvador that elsewhere it would simply not work.
Take acaraje, for example. Acaraje is a ball made with peeled and mashed black-eyed peas fried in dende oil, served split in half and filled with pimenta (a spicy sauce made from malagueta peppers), vatapa (a yellow paste made with manioc flower, dried prawns, coconut milk and again dende oil) and caruru (a greenish sauce which contains okra, onions, cashew nuts and yes you guessed it! Dende oil). Acaraje is probably the most iconic of Bahian dishes; it originates from West Africa (mainly the Igbo part of Nigeria) and it is prepared in the street by baianas, women dressed in white which are often identified by their first name: Acaraje da Dinha, Acaraje da Tania and so on. One dish, which conveys both the African heritage and the familiar, mother-to-daughter character of Bahian food. I had my first acaraje watching the sunset over the Farol da Barra (Barra lighthouse), accompanied by a cold beer. And I liked it so much that I had seconds, despite the fact that it supposedly was 2000 calories a pop. How was it? Well, go to Salvador and find out.
founded in the mid-XVI century by Portuguese settlers on the Bahia of Todos os Santos, which gives the name to Salvador's state. The name Bahia can also be used to refer to the city of Salvador. It was soon established as the first capital of colonial Brazil, as well as being the centre of the sugar industry and slave trade. As a result, when the slave trade ended in Brazil, many freed slaves settled in the area; thus creating a strong African-inspired culture, which persists to this day.Bahia is perhaps one of the destinations which best represents the melting-pot of cultures typical of Brazil, being at the same time one of the iconic places which entice first time travellers to the country. As a Jorge Amado aficionada, I could not miss the opporunity to visit Salvador. Travelling up the coast from Rio I was filled with expectations of sampling Dona Flor's culinary delights, whose exotic names have certainly contributed to my lifelong attraction to Brazil. And I was not to be disappointed.
Salvador is a place which presents itself to the visitors with a series of layers. One may visit the
city as a day tour, or for a couple of days, and not even remotely scratch the surface of what Bahian culture really is. Well, that can be said for a variety of destinations worldwide, but for Salvador even more so as there are not many must-see sights as such; instead the culture is what makes this place unique. In our case, 5 days were surely not enough, however having a great host surely helped. Russell was the first of a string of interesting characters that we encountered during our months on the road. A seasoned traveller, he found what many travellers take look for; paraphrasing Virginia Woolf, a place of one's own. Russell runs Barra Guest House, where we stayed during our time in Salvador. He was dedicated to helping every guest having a great time, and gave us great advice for experiencing the two things I was keen to keen to discover: Bahian food and a Candomble ceremony.Ingredients of Bahian recipes reflect the African heritage of the town and its seaside location; fish, prawns, beans, coconut milk, chillies, and the most iconic ingredient: Azeite de dende (palm oil). Those who have read Amado's Dona Flor and her two husbands, would know how complicated typical Bahian dishes such as moqueca, vatapa and caruru are; prepared with carefully selected mixtures of spices whose recipes are handed from generation to generation. As such, not only recreating a recipe is nearly impossible, also conveying the flavour of Bahian cuisine in words is likely to be a formidable task. In my opinion, Bahian food is so strongly intertwined with the history and culture of Salvador that elsewhere it would simply not work.
Take acaraje, for example. Acaraje is a ball made with peeled and mashed black-eyed peas fried in dende oil, served split in half and filled with pimenta (a spicy sauce made from malagueta peppers), vatapa (a yellow paste made with manioc flower, dried prawns, coconut milk and again dende oil) and caruru (a greenish sauce which contains okra, onions, cashew nuts and yes you guessed it! Dende oil). Acaraje is probably the most iconic of Bahian dishes; it originates from West Africa (mainly the Igbo part of Nigeria) and it is prepared in the street by baianas, women dressed in white which are often identified by their first name: Acaraje da Dinha, Acaraje da Tania and so on. One dish, which conveys both the African heritage and the familiar, mother-to-daughter character of Bahian food. I had my first acaraje watching the sunset over the Farol da Barra (Barra lighthouse), accompanied by a cold beer. And I liked it so much that I had seconds, despite the fact that it supposedly was 2000 calories a pop. How was it? Well, go to Salvador and find out.
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