Hispanic History Month and Foodways Series: Dutch Brazil, 1640-1649

Moqueca (fish stew), rice, and manioc meal, recipe below

Between 1640 and 1649, the Dutch controlled Portugal’s African settlements and its most important sugar producing region in southern Brazil. Dutchman Johan Nieuhoff worked for the Dutch East Indies and Dutch West Indies Companies spending nine years in Brazil. “The most universal food of the Brazilians,” is manioc or cassava meal, he writes in the 1640s. He adds they also feast upon seasoned crabs and craw-fish either boiled or roasted. “Small fish” they wrap and cook in banana leaves. Here are two Brazilian fish recipes that’s reminiscent of Niehoff’s account. The ingredients for Moqueca, a Bahian fish stew below, are transnational with plants from Asia, Africa, and America. It includes shrimp originally from China, garlic which are from South western Asia, onions from Iran, fish from the Americas (kingfish, mackerel or bluefish), lemon and lime from Asia, black pepper from India, tomatoes from the Americas, coconut from South America and or Asia, cayenne paper from Mesoamerica, and palm oil from Africa. Here is the recipe below:

Moqueca Bahian fish stew recipe: http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/12100/1990/09/26/Moqueca-Bahian-fish-stew/recipe.html