What everyone's dying to know - what's the food like?

The jail in the jungle near the main town on Ilha Grande
see all photos »

Ok the food so far. After a week of travelling and staying in a variety of accommodations going to a range of different eating places, I have to say the food is wonderful! I haven't had a bad meal yet. In fact last night a few of us went to this great cafe/bar/restaurant in Paraty which would rival anything I've ever been in (more on that in the Paraty entry).

For breakfast, which has been supplied 100% of the time, you get the choice of a selection of fruits (watermelon, dewmelon, apples, bananas, pawpaw, carambolas, and others like guava and things I don't know the name of just yet), juices (orange, passionfruit, mango, apple, or mixture), cakes - yes cakes! they have cake here for breakfast. Its fairly plain, usually like a maderia-type block, also a plain chocolate cake. God I can just imagine if I indulged in that! Different jams and butter to put on the cakes. There are always fresh crispy rolls upon which you can add cold meats - ham, a mortadella looking slice and cheese. Then there is the coffee. Its fantastic!! I've paid $4 for coffee that isn't as good as the coffee you get here for breakfast. They've even got artificial sweetner but its a liquid! At most of the places there's even museli and Allbran. Today I noticed a chocolate milk thing but I never had any.

The food so far ....

The loaded ferries carrying tourists to Green and Blue Lagoons
see all photos »

Lunches are a little less predictable, but because I usually stuff myself for breakfast I don't get hungry until dinner, and can get by with a snack or two or some fruit.

Dinners has been varied, but never anything to complain about, not even once.  Because we're not eating in flash places, its not what you'd call gourmet, but still its fresh, good quality and in plentiful supply (what more do you need really?)

The "kilo" places are huge over here. So you get a plate, load it up with a buffet style selection of salads, fruits, meats, etc and it gets weighed. I think it averages out around US$10ish per kilo, which is a mighty big meal. The quality of the selection is pretty amazing. Although I am usually very careful about what goes into my mouth (apart from the caiprihinias that is!), so haven't suffered with any "belly" probs.... yet! Mashed potato is big on the list, as is beans in this black sauce (sorry forget what they're called). All the salad veges are there, a kind of sauerkraut and cooked beetroot too, palm hearts, artichokes, rocket, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, potato salad things, carrots done in a variety of ways and pumkin too. So there's no excuse for not having proper nutrition on this trip.  However those in the group that have already been on the other side (Bolivia, Peru etc have warned the choice is a little less bountiful). We've also been to a few restaurants where its a la carte I guess. I've had fish a couple of times (on an island and close to the coast I figured it would be pretty safe). Most of the time you get salad, beans, mashed potato and the fish is grilled. On the ferry ride to Green and Blue Lagoons, we had a barbeque. It had sausages, chicken and steak in abundance. Salads, potatoes and bottomless caiprihinias. It was amazing, and cooked by one of the locals (jeez it was hard to concentrate on the food!)

The chef/captain of our ferry. Check him out!
see all photos »

At many of the places you have to order for two if its from a menu. This means that you have to find someone at your table willing to have what you want, which hasn't been difficult so far. The dinners range from about US$10- USD$20 at the places we've been, so thats quite a range I guess. Overall I am very impressed with the quality and variety of the food we've had so far. I probably thought it might be cheaper than it is, but apparently Brazil is one of the more expensive countries on the trip. So too is Argentina apparently, so looking forward to that one! ~

One of the cake trolleys that pop up every now and again
see all photos »

Budgeting for food isn't too bad if you don't drink. This was meant to be a low alcohol trip wasn't it! I've developed an addiction to caiprihinias unfortunately, which aren't too costly (US$2 - US$3.50) depending upon how flash the place is. For example on the boat trip to Blue and Green Lagoon on Ilha Grande, they were bottomless! They're made out of cachaça, a type of rough white rum (more on that in the Paraty entry), crushed limes, sugar and ice. You can imagine how refreshing that is on a hot day. Sadly they pack a mean punch so its probably not a good idea to have too many of em. The beer is pretty cheap here too, and sold practically everywhere. It also ranges from US$1.50 for a Darwin stubby to US$2 for a normal size (apparently better brand). As with wines, its hard for me to tell the difference between beers, as Geordie (my grandfather) used to say, "There are no bad beers, just some are better than others". So for the beer drinkers out there, its beer-drinking heaven! I have to say tho, that for such an abundance of alcohol around it is not a drunken culture. For example, at midnight when most things start slowing down, there are very few drunks stumbling around like there are, say in Aus at the same time. The ones that are, are gringo tourists. Weird huh?

Looking up one of the streets in Ilha Grande
see all photos »

Finally, for this entry, apologies for the lack of photos. I will see to that one. I don't have enough of food type things, so I've loaded other shots that hopefully I don't have in other entries. Thing is the internet is slightly slow, and it costs a motza to upload, so its just gonna be what its gonna be :)

Ciao for now!