Posts tagged with "Bahia"

As you’re reading this, I’ll probably be in Salvador, Bahia!  My friend and I are in Salvador and Morro de São Paulo in Brazil’s northeast state of Bahia this week.

I have always wanted to go to Bahia because of the state’s rich culture, music, and food.  Salvador is the state’s capital and it supposedly has a little bit of everything the great state (second largest in Brazil!) has to offer including friendlysoteropolitanos, Salvador natives.

And what better way to train oneself than to learn to speak baianês? If you’re learning Portuguese, you’ve probably already realized that not only every country, but many states in lusophonic countries have distinct accents and sayings.  Baianos have a great African influence in their culture and their sayings tend to look like a Brazilian-esquecreole.

The order goes baianês, português, English, got it?

E aê meu rei! - Oi amigo! - Hey buddy!

Venha, painho - Vem aqui - Come over here [friend, relative]

Colé de mermo? - O que é que você quer mesmo? - What was it you wanted again?

Vou cumê água - Vou beber [álcool] - I’m going to get a drink [usu. alcohol]

Lá ele! - Eu não! Sai fora! - Not me, get out of here!

Ó Pai, ó! - Olhe para aí, olhe! - Look out! Look over there!

Bó batê o baba! - Vamos bater uma bola! - Let’s go kick a ball around (play pick up soccer)

Oxe! - Baianos use this for everything.  It’s like the Mineiro, “uai,” the Paulistano, “meu,” and the Carioca’s, “cara,” – Usually only natives know how to use it, but I’m going to go on a limb here and use an example, “Oxe! Tô atrasada!” – “Oxe! I’m late!” :-)

Now that you can speak baianês you’re ready to go to Bahia!

This week, a new species of fish was discovered off the coast of Praia do Forte in Bahia, and is now being analyzed in Bahia to determine more details about the creature.

The fish was found floating dead in the water, and was caught and brought on board a research boat.  The strange-looking fish weighs 40 kilos and measures 1.8 meters in length. It has tiny, sharp teeth, and oddly, no scales. It is largely made up of body fat, with gelatin-like skin.

Researchers at the Federal University of Bahia will preserve the fish in formaldehyde and will also put the fish on display at the school’s Zoology Museum after it is analyzed.

Check out the BBC report and the Globo report on the new discovery!

Today we’re going to learn how to make moqueca de camarão, or shrimp stew, a specialty from Bahia in Brazil’s northeast region. The recipe is based on an African recipe brought by the slaves from Western Africa to Brazil. It uses distinctly African ingredients, like dende oil and coconut milk. This stew is eaten with white rice.

Here are some recipes:

Happy cooking!

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