I am thankful that the Lord has called us to a country that has great food! I'm not sure how I would handle having to eat strange things. I'm not too adventurous when it comes to my food. One thing that we have learned to love here is the Brazilian pizza.
Pizza here doesn't have much tomato sauce, if any at all, and usually you only find a thin crust. But, it's very good, and we like it, as long as the toppings don't get too strange. It is very common to find peas, corn, and eggs on pizza here along with other things.
Recently we went to our favorite "rodizio de pizza," which is much like a pizza buffet, but the waiters bring around different types of pizza to you. This particular restaurant advertises 55 types of pizza. Among these are:
Bologna
Hot dog
Lettuce
Garlic
Anchove
Tuna
Cod fish
Shrimp
Bacon
Ham
Eggplant
Broccoli
2, 3, 4, or 5 Cheese
Palm hearts
Corn
Chicken
Mushroom
Pepperoni
...and several different combinations of the above.
Some of them sound very strange, but some really are quite good. Others I haven't even gotten the courage to try! My favorite is called Sicilian and is a combo of chicken, bacon, mushroom, and mozzarella cheese.
Then the best part is the dessert pizzas! They have:
Milk Chocolate
White Chocolate
Banana
Apple
Pineapple
Chocolate with coconut
Chocolate with nuts
Chocolate with strawberries
Are you hungry yet?! Ready to come for a visit?!
Restaurants in Brazil are quite different from those in the States. The first thing you might notice is that there are many waiters hovering around ready to meet your every need. There is someone to seat you, another to take your order, someone to bring your drink, someone to take each plate or cup as soon as it is empty, someone else to bring your check when you are finished, and someone to pay when you are leaving. Another thing that was hard for us to get used to was the fact that there are no free refills. When you order a Coke you get one can, or sometimes bottle for about $2.50 or $3.00. When that's gone, it's gone. If you want more, you have to order and pay for another. Usually they bring your drink at room temperature and you have to ask for ice if you want it.
Some restaurants charge per kilogram. You get whatever food you want from a buffet, then they weigh your plate and charge by how much it weighs. Most restaurants that are even half-way nice have valet parking. Mostly because there are not parking lots for every building like there are in the States. Tips are generally included on your bill, and it is only 10% of the total. Another interesting thing that we have noticed is that they always seat everyone close together. You can be one of only four or five tables of people in the whole huge restaurant, but they will put all five close together. I'm not sure if that's for the convenience of the waiters, or because Brazilians tend to stick close together rather than have personal space.
We don't eat out much, so it's taken a while to get accustomed to these differences, but we are learning. It's always interesting!
