A Fruit´s Fruit Paradise

Your gentle writer never meant to be a blogger, but even this analog moll must admit that it´s a fine way to stay connected to people when you´re on opposite sides of the world. A letter or collage sent through the mail would be so much more personal and interesting to create, but who has the time? On the other hand, these things only happen when we make them happen. If someone asked this delicate blogger to write to them she most certainly would.



For those of you who may not already know, your faux Carioca arrived in Rio de Janeiro on 11 May to take language and culture courses through Duke University for seven weeks. During those seven weeks she plans to do some preliminary research for her dissertation--talking to people about Carmen Miranda, looking at costumes in the Carmen Miranda Museum. When the program ends the faux Carioca plans to stay until the middle or end of July. How long she stays depends on how the research goes. She is interested in talking with people who impersonate the star about what is essential for their performances. How do they craft their costumes, persona, etc.? Impersonators interest the faux Carioca because they can provide some insight into how people think about Miranda as Brazilian national icon now. (This project begs for comparison in the U.S., by the way.) So far the faux Carioca has met with Prof. Ligiéro who wrote his dissertation for NYU on Miranda as an Afro-Brazilian paradox and she´s met with the director of the Carmen Miranda Museum who provided some key contacts.



But the gentle reader is likely not terribly interested in the too-too academic side of things and so your faux Carioca solemnly promises that this is merely a way of positioning herself in Brazil and providing context.



What the gentle reader wants to know is, 'Are there black people in Brazil?' No wait. It was our president who posed that query. No. The gentle reader wants to know about produce.



Such fruit! Good heavens! Your delicate blogger delights in (so-called) New World foods and some day plans to make an entire meal of items indigenous to North and South America. For your pleasure here is a list of fruits lately encountered:

banana da terra--different and larger than the banana typically found in U.S. grocery stores this fruit should be cooked.
maracuja--passion fruit
mamão--there are at least two different kinds. One is exported to other countries and might be recognizable to you as a papaya. The other is from Bahia and is larger than the one for export.
aipim--a type of root vegetable. Peel and cook in water with a bit of salt until the center opens up a bit. Delicious for breakfast with butter or cheese.
abacate (pronounce 'ah-bah-cah-chee')--this is like a giant avocado (see above photo). The Carioca´s host mother prepared it by peeling it and blending with about a 1/4 cup condensed milk and half a lime (to prevent it from blackening). Mmm, mmm good.

Gentle reader: Do you want to know what people wear on the beach, how to use a middle-class bidet in a third world country, whether Brazilians are better looking than the average person from the Midwest? This blog promises to be interactive. Tell your delicate blogger what you want to know and she will do her best to oblige.