With all the current attention lavished on Rio de Janeiro due to its hosting the summer 2016 Olympic Games, foodies may wonder what the city has to offer them. Zoladz outlines the history of Rio’s foodways, noting the centuries of influence, from indigenous peoples through the arrival of the Portuguese. Although Portugal became the nation’s colonial overlord, other Europeans, such as the French, had a hand in Brazil’s cuisine. Cassava and other natives stayed central to Carioca cooking, and as city water supplies improved, other native fruits and vegetables poured into Rio’s markets. Eighteenth-century importation of African slaves to work the sugar cane fields brought diverse cooking styles and ingredients from hosts of regional African tribes and nations. In the last century, Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterners fleeing their countries’ upheavals added to the mix, and kibbeh, Lebanon’s national dish, has become a Rio commonplace within a cosmopolitan setting.
