Fish and Foodways in 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.

Bahian Crab Meat in a shell recipe: http://www.maria-brazil.org/casquinha_de_siri.htm

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