Brazilian Traditional Medicine, New Plant Species, Deforestation & The Amazon

Deforestation – The Loss Of Cancer Drugs In The Rainforest

"for sale?"

Here’s a Wikipedia Article I found on traditional Brazilian medicine. Unsurprisingly, Brazilians incorporate many plants and fruits into their traditional remedies due to the country’s astounding biodiversity. In particular, scientists are constantly discovering new species of plants with pharmacological properties in the Amazon rainforest. In truth, the Amazon is a barely discovered pharmacopeia which is tragically being destroyed faster than we can identify and test the potential of newly discovered species. We could be missing out on the cure to cancer, leukemia, arthritis, or rich sources of antioxidants. The only ones who truly hold this knowledge are the native tribes who have called the Amazon their home for centuries, and these people are quickly being driven out of their homes and forced to adapt to conditions of poverty and assimilation into modern society as deforestation persists. They may soon lose their culture, and then the secrets of medicinal plants will perhaps be lost to us. Ok, that was pretty heavy, so here’s that article:

Traditional Brazilian Medicine

From Wikipedia

Several parts of the cashew plant, including the bark and seeds, are used medicinally.

Traditional Brazilian medicine (Portugues: Medicina indígena) includes many native South American elements, and imported African ones. It is predominant where indigenous groups and among the black-Native American mestizo population, and in the Northeast coast, nearly all interior regions including Amazon regions, savannahs, rainforest, foothills, and Pantanal. According to Dr. Romulo R. M. Alves, “although Brazil’s health system is public…use of traditional remedies and rituals provide an economical way of healing for much of the populace, but that also does not mean that wealthy Brazilians don’t seek it out as well. Traditional medicine is a deep part of Brazilian heritage.”

The Aruak, Tupi, Yamomami, Krahô, Guarani and other Indians groups are among the native tribes that together with isolated descendants of Africans or Quilombola, and Indians integrated (Caboclo) that are known to almost exclusively practice traditional medicine. Among the plants include edible foods like the cashew, peppers, mangosteen and coconut, but often include inedible parts like the fruits, leaves, husk, bark. Neighboring nations like the Patamona of Guyana also use the cashew.

There is growing interest in Brazilian medicine as the Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical forest in the world, and is home to immense biodiversity, including cures or treatments for many ailments. Japanese scientists have found strong anticancer activity in Brazilian traditional remedies. In one study in 1997 published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, only 122 species existing in Brazil could be related to the Chinese species (or 14.35% of the samples)., which means the vast majority of species are not known to Chinese traditional medicine. Thousands and possibly millions of species remain unstudied and/or susceptible to extinction by habitat destruction.

Examples

Examples of modern studies of Brazilian medicine the Acai Palm contains antioxidants active against leukemia. Alchornea glandulosa is used to treat assorted skin diseases, diarrhea, inflammations, leprosy and rheuma. Scientific studies have confirmed most of these effects, and also found extracts of certain species to kill off trypanosoma, some bacteria and fungi, and cancer cells.

Some others include psychoactive plants like Ayahuasca Epena and Jurema used in rituals currently being investigated for their potential use in psychiatry.

pt:Vacina do sapo (Frog Vaccine) is a secretion from the giant leaf frog used by indigenous groups, such as the Asháninka, that is injected into the bloodstream and used in traditional medicine to ward off bad luck, however, only recently have multiple patents are pending for use against ischemia and hepatic injury.

To wrap this up, here are a few vocab words:

desmatamento – deforestation

a amazônia – the amazon

Amazonas – the state in Brazil known for being home to the Amazon rainforest

tribos – tribes

biodiversidade – biodiversity

Portuguese Food Vocab List – Vegetables

Food Vocab Lesson – Portuguese Words for Vegetables

vegetais – vegetables

o alface – lettuce

a cebola – onion

a cenoura – carrott

o aspargo – asparagus

os brócolis – broccoli

o repolho – cabbage

a ervilha – peas

o milho – corn

o pimentão – bell pepper

o espinafre – spinach

a salada – salad

a couve-flor – cauliflower

a berinjela – eggplant

a batata – potato

a abóbora – pumpkin

o pepino – cucumber (this word is also used in colloquial Portuguese to refer to a small problem or road block in a plan)

o tomate – tomato

a beterraba – beets

a batata doce – sweet potato

o cogumelo – mushroom

a alcachofra – artichoke

o palmito – heart of palm

o aipo – celery

o nabo – turnip

ralar – to grate (as in grating carrotts)

rodela – a slice (as in a slice of some vegetable)

orgânico/orgânica – organic

a couve – collard greens

a pimenta – pepper

o quiabo – okra

Nature Vocabulary: Collective Nouns in Portuguese

List of Collective Nouns In Portuguese

cacho – bunch of bananas or grapes

arquipélago – islands (archipelago)  

cordilheira – mountains

feixe – kindling / wood for burning

flora – plants or vegetables (flora)

floresta / bosque – trees (forest)

miríade – stars

pomar – fruit trees (orchard)

ramalhete / buquê – bouquet of flowers

réstia – bunch of onions or garlic

Portuguese Seafood Vocab List – Frutos do Mar

Seafood in Brazil is extremely popular and plentiful, especially on the coast. Here’s a good vocab list so that you can know what you are talking about next time you want to try seafood in Brazil.

List of Portuguese Words for Fish and Seafood:

frutos do mar – seafood

marisco – shellfish

molusco – clam

carangueijo, siri – crab

lagosta – lobster

mexilhão – mussel

ostra – oyster

ouriço-do-mar – sea urchin

camarão – shrimp

vieira – scallop

peixe – fish

peixe espada – swordfish

bacalhau – cod

ova de peixe – roe

atum – tuna

cavalinha – mackerel

salmão – salmon

sardinha – sardine

truta – trout

anchova -anchovy

Vocab Lessons: Advanced Food & Dining Vocab List

Here is a list of more food & dining vocabulary…words you still might not know if you have already mastered a basic level of Portuguese:

 

grão (pl. “grãos) – grain, bean (café)

palito de dentes – toothpick, or palito de picolé – popsicle stick

picolé – popsicle

isopor – styrofoam (i.e. the cooler you take to the beach is an isopor)

xarope – sirup

apodrecer/vencer – to rot, expire (food)

mastigar – to chew

roer – to gnaw, nibble (can also be used to describe biting one’s nails “roendo as unhas“)

sobrar – to be left over

torrar – to toast, burn, roast (um torrado – a piece of toast, or those packaged mini-toasts that are so popular in Brazil)

bolacha – biscuit, cookie

viscoso – sticky

amargo/amargura – bitter/bitterness (or…fig. “suffering”)

maço – packet (i.e. “maço de cigarros” – a pack of cigarettes)

trigo -wheat

gema – yolk (de ovo) (also means – gem stone)

gengibre – ginger

suxi – sushi (becoming very popular throughout Brazil)

goiabada – guava jelly (delicious and easy to find, try it!)

 

“dar um gole” – “to have a sip”

guardanapo – napkin

comestível – edible

bandeja – a tray (like you find in the mall food court, which is actually a trendy place to eat in Brazil)

desperdiçar – to waste (food)

Food Vocab: Fruit: Less Known Brazilian Fruits – Jaboticaba, Açaí, Jaca, etc.

 We all know that one of the great things about Brazil is all of the fresh fruit. It is unfairly common in Brazil for people to have mango trees, lemon trees, and guava trees growing in their own back yards. Coconuts (coco in Portuguese) are growing all around, you can buy one to drink on almost any street corner for 1 real and immediately look chicer. And if you have not experienced the unique flavor of açaí, you should…soon (it is trendy now and you can buy the juice almost anywhere in the states). It’s rich in antioxidants, and can be made into a smoothie, called a “vitamina” in Brazil -blended with milk or water, or eaten in a bowl (açaí na tigela) topped with sliced banana and granola.

And then there are the other fruits unique to Brazil, growing all around, that you might not know about, but any Brazilian does. For example, the delicious Jaboticaba berry (pictured above), which grows elegantly on (the branches!) of trees like this one I snapped growing in the state of Santa Catarina.

F.Y.I. It is also possible to make an ‘Infusion’-type alcohol with these sweet berries, by distilling them in a jar of Cachaça (Brazilian rum) for about 3 months. (If you are interested in learning to make alcohol with fresh exotic fruit, definitely send me an email!)

And then there is “Jaca” (Jack Fruit, in English) which tastes good but notoriously smells terrible.

Jaca, or Jackfruit, originally comes from India and Southeast Asia, where it was cultivated up to 6,000 years ago. Now it is commonly found in tropical climates throughout the world, including tropical regions of Brazil. This fruit grows on a jaqueira, a jackfruit tree, which can reach up to twenty meters in height. The interesting thing about jaca trees is that they produce both male and female flowers. The jackfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit in the word. The fruits grow from the trunk and can weigh up to thirty-six kilograms. The inside of the jackfruit is edible, which has a sweet, slimy taste.

And by far the most common fruit that I see growing naturally all around Brazil is the guava. There are guava trees everywhere, the guavas that grow on them are small and soft, sometimes a bit meely, but good for a snack. You can pick them right off the tree and eat them like an apple, skin and everything. The inside pink and sweet. The only thing is that sometimes a guava may have little holes in it, I’ve seen people still eat them like this with no qualms, but i wouldn’t, because the little holes mean that the guava has already been caved through by small insects, which I’m sure are full of protein, but i just think it’s a little off-putting to knowingly eat infested fruit like that. Guavas are called goiabas in Brazil, and the trees that they grow on are called goiabeiras. The insects that are known to infest guavas people just call “bichos de goiaba.“

hahaha hilarious

A traditional Brazilian snack called goiabada is like a sweet guava paste. It is typically eaten with Brazilian cheese, queijo de minas (from the state of Minas Gerais) and the two make a fantastic combination when eaten together. Goiabada is most commonly served on special occasions like holidays.

Goiabada com Queijo

Brazilian Cusine – The X-Tudo and Brazilian Pizza

What Is A X-Tudo, Or A X-Bacon, X-Salada???

If you’ve spent time with Brazilians, many times you will find that they have a strange urge to pile a questionable pile of assorted ingredients onto a bed of rice and beans….and it begins to look like, well….like they just don’t care- whatever happened to be lurking in the kitchen cabinet that day was fair game- it goes on the pile (often including but not limited to: canned corn, canned peas, those ubiquitous little potato sticks… yes that’s right. I’m talking about the same greasy, salty potato sticks that we took to snack time as children. In portuguese, potato sticks are called batata palha. Brazilians use these as a sort of garnish, to top off almost any pile of assorted ingredients…and…it’s delicious. Often that salty crunchiness is just what a meal needs to feel complete…not that I don’t feel weird as I am topping a beautiful meal with…potato sticks, it feels like sprinkling Cheetos on a fillet Mignon.  But there is an order to this chaos, and it emerges clearly after enough nights of heavy drinking… (the only times I was desperate enough to try the incoherent piles of ingredients instead of just ordering a tira-gosto (appetizer) and watching the others in infatuated disgust as they enthusiastically embarked upon what was bound to be an undesirable culinary journey that was almost guaranteed to lead to many hours clutching a toilet bowl once the dubious mixture met the bottom of a stomach, awaiting in a churning pool of alcohol)…a pattern emerges. And the first time I put a X-tudo to my lips, I finally understood. On the menu of any late night eatery, called a “buteco,” full of tipsy (mostly) young people, you will find any variety of X’s (like a cheeseburger…on steroids.)

batata palha - one of the components of a brazilian x-tudo

Why in Portuguese is It Called a “X”?

Why do they call it a “X”? The letter X, pronounced: ‘sheez’ in Portuguese, apparently someone realized that it sounds like the English word  “cheese”…yes, as in “cheeseburger.” A X’s core ingredients? Massive hamburger patty and egg bun stuffed and overflowing with melted cheese, peas, corn, and potato sticks, ham, egg, lettuce and tomatoes. Common X variations include: the X-Bacon (amazing), X-Ovo, X-Tudo, etc. The X is not just good, it is amazing. It’s the perfect snack food, the ideal hangover food. It just works…

For those of you who have tried pizza in Brazil, you will also know what I mean. Dough, tomato sauce and cheese are apparently not enough…not even close to being enough. It simply wouldn’t be pizza in Brazil without the little green peas, the canned corn, the double layer of ham that lies waiting under the layer of cheese and just about every vegetable known to man and often another kind of ground meat on top of it all. And almost unfathomable would it be not to nearly drown this already ‘challenging’ enterprise of a meal with ketchup and mayonnaise!

I will add much more to this list later on, and I will talk more about food in Brazil, including some vocabulary words for preparing food and cooking…and a list of restaurant recommendations in my favorite Brazilian cities (restaurants with not one “X” on the menu)!

And don’t forget to leave any comments, requests or questions you may have, I welcome your input and would love to hear from you. Thanks for reading! 🙂

How To Order In A Restaurant in Portuguese

Here is all you need to know in order to successfully order food in a restaurant in Brazil. This lesson includes a vocabulary list, useful phrases for ordering food and some tips on being polite in Portuguese when dining out. If you need to work on your food vocabulary, see my Brazilian Portuguese food vocab list here. As always, if you have any doubts, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Usefull Phrases:

*One very useful word is “Queria…” . Please mind the way you should pronounce it – it’s pronounced[keri-ah], but for the “r” sound, your toung should be touching the top front of your mouth if you are pronouncing it correctly. This means “I would like…” or “I’ll have…”. This word is used much more commonly to order food than the word “gostaria” which you may already be familiar with.

*So, when the waiter approaches you it will be very likely hearing him saying something like:

“Já pediu?”  – Have you ordered? or

“Já pediram?”  – Have you (guys) ordered?

The way you must reply is:

“Já. – “already.” You say this if you have already ordered,  (you may have noticed that Brazilians rarely respond affirmatively to questions by saying “sim.”)

“Ainda não.” – “Not yet.”

“Poderia me trazer o cardápio, por favor?” – “Could you bring me a menu, please?”

“Me traz outro copo de vinho, por favor” – “Bring me another glass of wine please”

“Uma cerveja, por favor” – “Bring me a beer please”

“Mais alguma coisa?” – “Would you like anything else?”

“Não, Obrigada.” – “No thanks.”

“Fica pronto em quanto tempo?” – “How long will it take?”

“Estou com um pouco de pressa.” – “I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

“Eu sou vegetariano” – “I’m a vegetarian.”

“Aquilo parece gostoso” – “That looks delicious”

“Me passa o sal, por favor” – “Please pass the salt”

“Pode trazer a conta, por favor” or just “A conta, por favor.”- “Bring the check please”

“Mal passado ou bem passado?” – “Rare or well done?”

“Bem passado, por favor.” – “Well done, please.”

“Vou querer…” – “I’ll have…”

“Cadê o banheiro?” – “Where’s the Bathroom?”

Describing The Food:

cheirar bem – to smell good/nice

delicioso – delicious

doce – sweet

fresco – fresh

frio -cold

quente – hot, warm

picante – spicy

saboroso – tasty, flavorful

amargo – bitter

salgado – salty

azedo – sour

aromático – aromatic; fragrant

Restaurant Vocab:

jantar – dinner

almoço – lunch

café da manhã – breakfast

refeição – a meal

pedido – an order

uma reserva – a reservation

preço – price

vegetariano(a) – vegetarian

o cardápio – menu

a conta, a nota (or “notinha”) – check, bill

a gorjeta – the tip

“é por conta da casa” – it’s on the house

pagar a conta – to pay the check

o prato principal – the main course

compartilhar – to share

sobremesa – dessert

garçon/garçonete – waiter/waitress (people also often use the word “moço” to call their waiter, or moça for waitress.)

buffet – buffet (very common in Brazil)

Being Polite:

-When passing someone food, say, at the dinner table, instead of asking “voce quer um pouco de salada?” (“do you want some salad“) rather you should say, “voce aceita um pouco de salada?” (“do you accept some salad?”) It may sound a bit strange, but trust me, this is the right way to ask.

Vocab Lessons: Food: Fruit

a fruta – fruit

o abacaxi – pineapple

a ameixa – plum, prune

a amora (preta) – blackberry

a banana – banana

a cereja – cherry

o damasco – apricot

a framboesa – raspberry

a laranja – orange

o limão (-ões) – lemon, lime (yes, it’s the same word for both)

a maçã – apple

a melancia – watermelon

o melão (-ões) – melon

o morango – strawberry

a pêra – pear

o pêssego – peach

a uva – grape

a uva passa – raisin

o mamão – papaya

 

a goiabada – guava jelly (delicious and easy to find, try it!)

 

a goiaba – guava

 

o abacate – avocado

 

a romã – pomegranate

 

a amora – blackberry

 

o mirtilo,  o arando – blueberry

 

a manga – mango

 

carambola – star fruit

 

o coco – coconut

 

tâmara – date

 

o figo – fig

 

a nectarina – nectarine

 

a tangerina – tangarine

 

toranja – grapefruit

 

kiwi – kiwi

 

maracujá – passion fruit

 

jaca – jackfruit

 

caju – cashew (in Brazil, this is a very popular fruit, wheras we just know the cashew nut)

podre adj. – rotten

casca/descascar – the skin of a fruit/to peel (a fruit)

 

amassado – bruised (fruit)

 

 

Vocab Lessons: Food: Easy Food Vocabulary List

Here’s a quick and easy vocab list of words for common foods in Brazilian Portuguese:

o abacaxi – pineapple

o açúcar – sugar

o aipo – celery

a alface – lettuce

o alho – garlic

almoçar – to (have) lunch

o almoço – lunch

a ameixa – plum

a amora (preta) – blackberry

o arroz – rice

os aspargos – asparagus

o bacon – bacon

a banana – banana

a batata – potato

a bebida – drink

o bife n. (beef)steak

o biscoito – biscuit, cracker

o bolo – cake

o brócolis – broccoli

o café – coffee

o café da manhã – breakfast

a carne – meat

o porco – pork

a cebola – onion

a cenoura – carrot

a cereja – cherry

a cerveja – beer

o chá – tea

o chocolate – chocolate

o cogumelo – mushroom

a comida – food

o cordeiro – lamb

a couve-flor (couves-flores) – cauliflower

o creme – cream

o damasco – apricot

a ervilha – pea

o espinafre – spinach

a faca – knife

a farinha – flour

o feijão (-ões) – bean(s)

a framboesa – raspberry

o frango – chicken

a fruta – fruit

o jantar – dinner, supper

jantar – to have dinner/supper

a laranja – orange

os legumes – vegetables

o leite – milk

o limão (-ões) – lemon

a limonada – lemonade

a maçã – apple

a manteiga – butter

os mariscos – shellfish

o mel – honey

a melancia – watermelon

o melão (-ões) – melon

o milho – corn

o molho – sauce; dressing

o morango – strawberry

a mostarda – mustard

a noz – walnut; nut

o óleo – oil

o ovo – egg

o pão (pães) – bread

o peixe – fish

o pepino – cucumber

a pêra – pear

o pêssego – peach

a pimenta – pepper (spice)

o pimentão (-ões) – pepper (vegetable)

o presunto – ham

o queijo – cheese

a refeição (-ões) – meal

o repolho – cabbage

o sal – salt

a salada – salad

a salsicha – sausage

o sanduíche – sandwich

a sidra – cider

a sobremesa – dessert

a sopa – soup

o suco – juice

o tempero – seasoning

o tomate – tomato

o trigo – wheat

a uva – grape

a uva passa – raisin

o vinagre – vinegar

o vinho – wine