In Brazil, the basic carbohydrate is rice,
Rice and beans are the epitome of Brazilian tables. In Brazil, the basic carbohydrate is rice, while in other countries it can be potatoes, wheat or corn. Here, rice was consumed later. In the main work on food in Brazil, the well-known História da Alimentação no Brasil (History of Food in Brazil) by Câmara Cascudo, the historian and sociologist writes that the binomial food in Brazil would be beans and flour, with rice being written about separately under the title “O Suplementar Arroz” (Supplementary Rice). The lack of importance of this cereal for both the indigenous people, who preferred to consume corn and manioc, and the Portuguese, who consumed more wheat derivatives, rice was consumed more sporadically and appeared more as a sweet than savory preparation. Even so, the Portuguese made a point of spreading rice production throughout their domains and, in the 16th century, highlighted rice as an important item in their food heritage. The indigenous people knew rice in species other than Oryza sativa, which was more commonly consumed in Europe and Asia. Native species such as “milho d’água” (water corn), known in Tupi as abati-uaupé, were found in flooded areas along the coast before the Portuguese arrived. The consumption of beans, flour and dried meat has been widely documented in history. Luccok is one of those who highlighted this consumption in his writings. He mentions a soup commonly served at lunchtime in Rio de Janeiro with different types of beans, vegetables and dried meat that was served with flour.
Production and the popularization of consumption
Rice was well produced in colonial Brazil, and in 1781 the government even banned the export of the grain in order to protect the domestic market and guarantee its supply. With the opening of the ports in 1808, grain imports picked up pace. However, the popularization of rice consumption in the country took place after the Paraguayan War, when rice was used as a war ration for Brazilian soldiers and this encouraged consumption, and it began to feature in everyday dishes alongside flour, but with less importance. Unlike flour, it didn’t give sustenance and production required a lot of extra care, as it required flooded areas and dried specimens were more susceptible to pests. As for preparation, the most common was just boiled in water, more soggy, with a texture similar to a drier pirão. The loose rice we know and eat today first appeared in hotels and wealthier homes. However, the consumption of this cereal as a dessert is still valued.
Until the period of industrialization (Vargas government, 1930s), the daily diet varied between these foods: rice, beans, flour, dried meat, sometimes game or farm animals, and collective home gardens or not. After this period, noodles were added to the daily diet, as well as foods bought at “sales”. There have been variations in consumption over the decades, but rice and beans ended up establishing themselves as a new binomial in the Brazilian diet. The combined consumption of beans and rice solves the problem that rice has historically suffered from, of being considered a “poor” food with little nutritional value. However, mixing rice with beans enriches both preparations nutritionally, providing a diet rich in complex amino acids, vitamins, high in fiber and low in cholesterol.
Ultra-processed food vs. food: an antonymy
With regard to consumption, the challenges are variable, and the price and preparation time have already been widely debated. But there’s another less talked about factor, which is the very vision of what food is. Food is the opposite of nourishment; nourishment exists after the food has been prepared. The boom in ultra-processed foods and the fitness world has made this division less clear. Reports on studies claiming that such food is bad for you have been a phenomenon since the 1950s and 1960s and continue to this day. The motivations for saying that this food is bad for you or good for you, or that this meal is more important than another, are based on industrial, marketing and product sales issues. Supplements are back in vogue, replacing or “supplementing” unbalanced meals. What was previously known as “real food” – rice, beans, meat and a salad – has been seen as a caloric dish or difficult to prepare, and options are emerging to replace it with healthier diets.
In 2023, according to the Ifood platform, the best-selling items were lunchboxes. Even so, since flour has been replaced by rice, we can’t rule out the possibility of rice and beans losing their reign on Brazilian plates. In Brazil itself, we have a well-known case of food (and foodstuffs) being replaced by a product in different preparations: the case of condensed milk, with not only nutritional but also gastronomic losses. This is why government food procurement programs that encourage agricultural production, school feeding programs that offer quality food and that encourage the maintenance of cultural issues that permeate this consumption are so important. A quality, nutritionally balanced diet has an impact on health, education and the model of society we want to promote.
Items most consumed by Brazilians in their daily diet in percentages
- Coffee (78.1%).
- Rice (76.1%).
- Beans (60.0%).
- Salt bread (50.9%).
- Oils and fats (46.8%).
- Beef (38.2%).
- Juices (33.1%).
- Poultry (30.8%)
