Pastel

Favorite snack of Brazil

In Brazil, pastel is a typical fast-food Brazilian dish, consisting of half-circle or rectangle-shaped thin crust pies with assorted fillings, fried in vegetable oil. The result is a crispy, brownish fried pie. The most common fillings are ground meat, mozzarella, heart of palm,catupiry cream cheese, chicken and small shrimp. Pastéis with sweet fillings such as guava jam with Minas cheese, banana and chocolate also exist, but are not so common. The pastel is classified in Brazilian cuisine as a salgado (salty snack). It is traditionally sold on the streets or in fast-food shops known as pastelarias. It is popularly said to have originated when Japanese immigrants adapted Chinese fried wontons to sell as snacks at weekly street markets. Italian-Brazilians have said the Brazilian dishes pastel andfogazza originated from fried calzones. It is possible, however, that pastel originated from Indian samosas when the dish became part of the Portuguese cuisine.

That was our dinner. Brazilians tend to eat big lunch and snack throughout the day.