Fruit

There's a lot of fruit. Alot of fruit juices. OMG is there a lot. Often there is only fruit for dessert -- pineapple, mango, the super sweet ones. And Marite taught me all the names: maracuja (passion fruit), acabaxi (pineapple), and she even introduced me to acerolas -- small, cherry like, intensely bitter fruit but have "more vitamin C than 20 oranges" a claim we both have heard from several fiercely proud Brazilians. yeah!

When I first got to Brazil I was super surprised at the amount of fruit. Especially the fact that it's a standard for dessert ("hey! where's the chocolate?" I would think). I was surprised to hear my friend say "I got to watch out for the fruit in Brazil -- so much sugar." Huh? Sugar? It's fruit! But by the end of my stay in Brazil I was very conscious of the wonders of sweet, sweet pineapple, fresh squeezed OJ, and any fruit you can imagine. Succos were a staple for breakfast at my local padaria, and by far my favorite ended up being Caju -- cashew, the fruit not the nut!