Indigenous Brazilian Chef Reveals Her Secrets in New Book

10/23/2013 - 14h27

When Dona Brazi arrived in São Paulo four years ago, carrying a knapsack containing leafcutter ants, tucupi preto (a liquid extracted from cassava) and beiju (a type of pancake made from cassava), there was great excitement. For weeks the city's chefs could speak of nothing but the Baré Indian and the ants she served up at Tordesilhas Restaurant.

Now she is returning to São Paulo, to launch her book "Dona Brazi: Traditional Amazonian Cooking", published by Bei. "It's not often that people get the chance to put their recipes and their stories into a book," she told Folha, from São Gabriel da Cachoeira in Amazonas. "A lot has happened since Alex [the chef Alex Atala of the restaurant D.O.M] came to meet me."

Atala was the first São Paulo chef to visit Dona Brazi in her hometown, in the region of Alto Rio Negro, where 90% of the population is indigenous and the only way to get there is by boat or light aircraft. It was Atala who contributed the preface to the book.

"The local communities have an extremely varied diet," says the ecologist Adeilson Lopes da Silva, who works with the program Rio Negro do Instituto Socioambiental (ISA). "Their food comes from the forest, the river and the countryside. The Baniwa tribe, for example, eat 45 different types of fruit."

He says that the region contains many other foods with high gastronomic potential. "There is tucupi preto, flours, palm oils, edible mushrooms, the honey of the native bees."

Paca [a type of large rodent], tapir, monkey, toucan, wild boar and other animals are all hunted, usually with rifles, and constitute an important part of the indigenous diet, providing a vital source of protein.

Ants, another important source of protein, are 'fished' out of anthills with sticks. In Alto Rio Negro, the local communities eat leafcutter ants as well as the maniwara species, which are fattier. They may be salted and boiled, or simply toasted.

"My husband says that I am leading the population of São Paulo astray, teaching you all to eat ants," laughs Dona Brazi. She has become an icon of Brazilian cuisine.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Rogério Assis/Divulgação
	Dona Brazi, indigenous chef