New York Monday #39: Brazil Day 2006

September 4, 2006 | Filed Under New York Monday, Festivals

Brazil Day 2006 - New York City

In what has now become a yearly tradition, my friends and I get together to attend the Brazil Day festival held in the Little Brazil section of New York City (Read about last year’s fun here.). Thousands of people attend, making it the largest Brazilian-themed festival held outside of Brazil. Brazilian celebrities show up, popular Brazilian musicians perform, and related paraphernalia are sold.

Up until the day of the festival, we weren’t sure if we’d go because it had rained for the past couple of days, including the day before the festival (See the Mackerel Sky, which means rain in two days. Interestingly enough, it did rain two days later! Then, it rained some more, the effects of Hurricane Ernesto.). However, the morning of Brazil Day, the rain stopped and the sun miraculously came out. So we met at our special meeting spot, right on the corner of Little Brazil – 46th Street and 6th Avenue.

At 11 in the morning, crowds already filled the streets. Vendors had already set up their wares – foods, books, CDs, jewelry and other things of interest to a street fair attendee. Brazilian music competed with Peruvian music on the other side of the street.

Excitement filled the air as proud Brazilians roamed the streets wearing their country flag colors – yellow and green. Many wore shirts; others wore scarves, and hats, while others draped the flag on their backs. Every year, I always say I’ll wear something green and yellow but I don’t have those colored clothing in my closet. I wore pink and white! To my chagrin, I stood out like a sore thumb. Uggh! I’m going to start looking now for something more appropriate to wear for next year’s Brazil Day.

We joined the crowds and walked down the very packed street. In particular, we looked for Brazilian foods we’d tasted the previous year. Last year, we had a wide variety of Brazilian foods, from which to choose. This year, not so. Despite it being Brazil Day, we saw more foods from other countries (i.e., Colombia, Thailand, Mexico, Greece) than from Brazil. It was kind of strange and disappointing. After all, for Brazil Day, we expected Brazil food.

My friend, A, wanted Pão de queixo, a cheese roll/bread that we tried the year before and enjoyed. We searched up and down the crowded streets but didn’t find it. It seems that nobody sold it this year. ;-(

I did see Pastels (deep-fried pastries) and Brigadeiro (Chocolate fudge sweet), but I did not see Churrasco (Brazilian BBQ), foods we tasted last year.

Another thing we looked forward to having and did find was Caipirinha, a traditional Brazilian drink, made from sugar, lime, and Cachaça, a Brazilian rum (See the recipe here.). This year the alcohol in the drink was very strong but it sure tasted good. A and I shared the drink. A very interesting note is that the description of the drink posted for everyone to see was very misleading. The sign read, “soda and water!” Yeah, right! Obviously, the cops monitoring the crowds knew nothing about Caipirinha because vendors are not allowed to sell alcohol at a festival. They should have had a clue when they saw such a long line to buy the so called “soda and water.”

My friend Kathleen and I bought a churro recheado com doce de leite, a pastry filled with sweetened milk (condensed milk). I have to say it was pretty expensive, unlike last year, as was the chicken empada (not to be confused with empanada, which is what I’d done) that I’d bought. I’d never had the chicken empada before and I expected a food of reasonable size. Instead, for my two bucks, I was handed a small finger-like food, the size of a quarter that disappeared in my mouth in one pop. It should have cost a dollar, if not 50 cents. Ya live and ya learn.

Kathleen bought a shish kebab from the Greek food stand, which she said tasted excellent. It looked good. Later we bought a beef empanada and I bought a roasted plantain from the Mexican food stand. So much for eating only Brazilian foods.

Despite the slight disappointment with the choice of foods offered this year at the festival, I still had a fun time. With gorgeous weather, a festive crowd, and the good company of my friends, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. All in all, I had a fun time. Who knows what next year will bring.

Paz

Brazil shirts
Wearing the Brazil flag