Earth - Roots The Beginning
Taken by the hand and through the generosity of Satoshi Nitsuma,
a Japanese-Brazilian living in Belem, we visit Belem’s famous market.
Its name, Ver-o-Peso [literally, to check the weight], originates
in the retailers’ daily practice of weighing the fish
using manual scales by the barges to sell it on the spot.
Inside the market we witness the unload of tropical fruit – among which several
tons of açai shipped straight from the lungs of the world, Amazonia.
In Belem we meet Chef Thiago Castanho (from Remanso do Peixe [literally,
the fish’s backwater]): at his restaurant we have a taste of mandioca broth,
wild mandioca, which is forever branded in our memory for its uniqueness.
This gastronomic space is a family heirloom where the Chef explores
traditional Brazilian cooking with a more contemporary twist.
We return to the market, this time as buyers,
to experience a true universe of the Amazonian vibe:
the gigantic fresh fish, the dried fish as a means to save
the unsold remains of the day; the exotic fruit, unique to the region,
the freshly squeezed juices… But also the dried fruits, the açai
prepared on the spot,
the prepping of the wild mandioca, which has to be cooked for six hours
if one wants to kill off its natural cyanide.
Time for lunch!
This is the time for the privilege to taste another good example
of the preservation of regional cooking memories,
an authentic food tribute to the Paraense culture.
To digest the lunch our host Satoshi takes us on a tour
to a tropical fruit farm.
This is a real exotic fruit extravaganza – inside and out…
Cocoa, mangosteen, rambutan, cashew, inga, açai,
cupuaçu, pupunha [peach palm]… A never-ending list…
The day ends on a golden note: picking mandioca!
Hands on the work: it is a memorable, breathtaking experience as we pluck
from the earth one of the noblest products of Brazilian cooking.
Our last day in Belem yields yet one adventure.
We take a boat to the island of Combu where we visit a fantastic Amazonian
cocoa plantation, the ultimate example of sustainable
agricultural practices in Amazonia.
We continue our odyssey – this time not searching for edibles
but for utensils and tableware to serve them.
What better than to discover the local handicraft, its artisans
and ancestral production techniques…?