It's All About the Manioc, Baby.

It's everywhere. And in everything. Okay not everything, but it's in a lot of stuff. Manioc here comes in all sorts of different forms and is delicious in just about everyone of them. Like I wrote before, one of my favorite foods here has been farinha, a yellow crumbly substance which people here put on top of just about everything they eat. I guess the flavor is close to that of the manioc itself but it's really hard to pinpoint. And actually, during our rural homestays in the Trombetas region two weeks ago I spent one morning peeling manioc in order to make farinha. Because it's a three-day-long process and there's no industrial technique used to make farinha, it's all made in little farinha kitchens like the one I was in. The picture I've added is of the last step in the process, toasting.



But the past few weeks have introduced me to an abundance of other uses for the plant. In the kitchen itself where the farinha is made, at least three other foods or beverages are made from the different types of manioc here. One that people even in the states will be familiar with is tapioca. There's also pajiroba, a (possibly alcoholic) drink made from a type of manioc that people in rural communities, like the one I'd stayed in, drink throughout the day to keep their energy up. And then there's the manioc itself, a type of which can be cut up and cooked/eaten more or less like a more fibrous potato. Here it's called macaxeira, but in the U.S. you can find it in the supermarket under the name "yuca". Then there was beiju, an extremely hard cracker-like treat that everyone there eat with breakfast lunch and dinner.

Back in the city, manioc is just as present, though maybe in less obvious ways. One of the most popular dishes consumed during the Círio de Nossa Senhora de Nazaré festival, which happened on Sunday, is maniçoba. It's made with the leaf of the manioc plant and must be cooked for about a week to remove the toxins from the leaves. I abstained on account of the meat but we had it here at my homestay and apparently it's delicious. And I can't forget tapioca flavored ice cream! People here--or maybe just students from the U.S. searching for comfort food--love ice cream. And popsicles. And I swear that the "crackers" that people eat for breakfast are actually cookies.

But speaking of the Círio procession, I'm happy to say that I walked with it through downtown on Sunday and survived the mass of (literally) millions who I walked with. Wikipedia is much better at describing things than I am, but suffice it to say that the whole day was very moving, and that I'd never before witnessed so many people with so much faith. Here you can see a photo of the image being taken to the plaza in front of the basilica, where mass was held at the end of the procession.

In an attempt to avoid the crowded city, we headed to Salinas, a beach about a three-hour drive from Belém. It was a great couple of days relaxing with the homestay family before we got back to classes today. And we ate ice cream, literally dozens of popsicles, and farinha.

And I was almost eaten by a giant crab.
Yeah.