Amapá

The açaí palm , Euterpe oleracea, is a species of palm tree (Arecaceae) cultivated for its fruit (açaí berries, or simply açaí), hearts of palm (a vegetable), leaves, and trunk wood. Global demand for the fruit has expanded rapidly in the 21st century, and the tree is cultivated for that purpose primarily. The species is native to eastern Amazonia, especially in Brazil, mainly in swamps and floodplains. Açaí palms are tall, slender trees growing to more than 25 m (82 ft) tall, with pinnate leaves up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long. The fruit is small, round, and black-purple in color. The fruit became a staple food in floodplain areas around the 18th century, but its consumption in urban areas and promotion as a health food only began in the mid 1990s along with the popularization of other Amazonian fruits outside the region.

Caldeirada is a Portuguese and Galician (Northwestern Spain region) fish stew consisting of a wide variety of fish and potatoes, along with other ingredients. A fishermen's stew, the dish has been described as "a fish muddle that varies from town to town and depends on what the fishermen have managed to catch." Caldeirada is similar to other types of fish stew, such as the French bouillabaisse, Greek kakavia, Spanish zarzuela, and Italian cacciucco. One cookbook states that the dish typically consists of "a fifty-fifty mix of lean and oily fish, "along with shellfish such as clams and mussels, and often squid or octopus as well. This recipe uses two kinds of oily fish (such as mackerel, swordfish, or tuna) and two kinds of lean whitefish, (such as cod, monkfish, hake, flounder, and haddock), plus shrimp, mussels in the shell, and squid.

Caruru is a Brazilian food made from okra, onion, shrimp, palm oil and toasted nuts (peanuts and/or cashews). It is a typical condiment in the northeastern state of Bahia, where it is commonly eaten with acarajé, an Afro-Brazilian street food made from mashed black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in palm oil. Caruru possibly comes from the African term kalalu. Another possibility is that it is a Tupi noun, ka'á-riru (lit.: "eating herb"), as defined by the Brazilian folklorist Luís da Câmara Cascudo. It is a curious case of similar words, which generates some confusion between the plant and the dish. Guilherme Piso, who lived in Pernambuco (1638–1644), reports the caruru made with medicinal and food herb (and not with okra). In his story in Historia Naturalis Brasiliae, the doctor from Count Maurício de Nassau informs that "this bredo (caruru) is eaten as a vegetable and cooked instead of spinach ...". Another account, in 1820, in the Amazon, by Von Martius, mentions the "caruru-açu" during a meal with the natives near the Madeira River, when he experienced "a delicacy of chestnuts pounded with an herb similar to spinach ..." . In other words: this description is of a caruru made with the caruru plant, originally from the Americas (and not from Africa, which is the case of okra). For the dish, the cuisine of Dahome Nagô, from Yoruba Nigeria, and indigenous from Bahia would have been combined. During his visit to Africa, at the end of the 18th century, Father Vicente Ferreira Pires called the meal in Daomé "chicken caruru", revealing that the use of oil palm, a palm of African origin. Originally, the Brazilian caruru was a stew of herbs that served to accompany another dish (meat or fish). The current version of the caruru, however, is more African than indigenous, being made with okra, chili, dried shrimp and palm oil.

Maniçoba is a festive dish in Brazilian cuisine that is from the Brazilian state of Pará located in the Brazilian Amazon. It is of indigenous origin, and is made with leaves of the Manioc plant that have been finely ground and boiled for at least four days and up to a week, to remove their hydrogen cyanide content. The ground and boiled leaves are then mixed with salted pork, dried meat and other smoked ingredients, such as bacon and sausage. The dish is served with rice and cassava meal (farinha). Maniçoba is usually eaten during the Círio de Nazaré, a religious festival that takes place in October in the city of Belém. In Sergipe, the Museum of the people of Sergipe [pt] mentions the importance of maniçoba for the cities of Lagarto and Simão Dias, a tradition passed from father to son, starting with a local merchant named João Mendes and passing to his son Rildo Mendes, known as Gordinho da Maniçoba (the maniçoba fatty), where maniçoba is a traditional dish of festivities.

Pato no tucupi is a traditional Brazilian dish found mostly in the area around the city of Belém in the state of Pará state. The dish consists of a boiled duck (pato in Portuguese) in tucupi. One of the more typical restaurants where it can be found is the Círculo Militar in Belém, in a historical palace near the harbour of the city.

Stewed beef and vegetables

Piracuí is traditionally known in the Amazon region as "farinha de peixe" (fish flour) and is traditionally made from crushed or shredded dried salted fish. The most common fishes are Acari (Liposarcus pardalis), Tamuatá (Callichthys callichthys) or Bodó, but piracuí can be made from other species of fish. The fishes are cooked or roasted and then the meat is separated from the carcass; The meat is toasted and is put into continuous motion in a wood burning oven with salt; The final product reminds a flour texture which is then stored to be used in other preparations; It is eaten mixed with olive oil, onion and cassava flour. It also serves to make fried dumplings (known as bolinho de piracuí).

Tacacá is a typical dish of Northern Brazil (mostly consumed in Pará, Amazonas, Acre, Amapá and Roraima). It is made with jambu (a native variety of paracress), and tucupi (a broth made with wild manioc), cooked tapioca starch (“goma de tapioca” - manioc), as well as dried shrimps and fragrant, small yellow peppers known as “pimenta de cheiro”. It is traditionally served hot in a bowl made from an Amazonian gourd known as cuia.