We explore the differences between breakfasts in 14 Brazilian states

Breakfast has held the title of the most important meal of the day for years, although more recent studies question this fact. But while scientists argue, some other people choose breakfast as their favorite meal! More important or preferred, the fact is that there is a huge variety of foods that people put on the table in the morning. Japanese like soup, Israelis like fish, Americans like bacon and eggs. And the Brazilians? Well, being a giant country by nature, the answer is: it depends!

so much so that we awesome.club we have gathered here the preferences of families from several states in Brazil when choosing what to eat and drink for breakfast, and with a bonus as hot as a cup of coffee.

Breakfast in Amazonas is very rich and diverse, with foods that many Brazilians may not even know what they are. Just look at the list: coffee with milk, fruit juices, bread or tapioca with butter and coalho cheese, tucumã (a typical fruit from the North), fried plantain and charque farofa. Do you think it’s over? It still has roots such as yams, cassava, boiled pupunha and pé-de-moleque made with manioc.

Most of these dishes are more easily found in cafes, bakeries and hotels that are careful to serve a regional menu. In houses, generally, they do not have all this every day, due to the routine of each family. In addition, each family has its own customs and preferences. Without a doubt, this goes for the other states on this list as well!

Couscous is more traditional in the North and Northeast, but other regions of the country have already incorporated this delight. In Bahia, breakfast usually has couscous with butter, moistened with warm milk or accompanied by eggs or beef jerky. Another Bahian custom is to eat corn cake, boiled or roasted plantains, potatoes, yams and cassava, in addition to the traditional tapioca beiju, which has also spread across the country. Do you know what you have too? Bread with fried egg!

Families have the habit of setting the table well for breakfast, especially on weekends or special dates, when they have more time. We can usually find cheese bread, sweet bread, tapioca, yogurt, bread with ham and cheese, in addition to black coffee or milk. On a birthday morning, for example, you might have a simple cake, fruit, fruit juice and muffins.

The breakfast in Goiás has several things in common with those from Minas Gerais and even from other states, such as cornmeal, corn or rice cakes, cookies, jams and fruit juices, omelets and, of course, coffee. However, two things stand out at the tables in Goiás. The first is the famous empadão from Goiás, which has more than 150 years of history to tell. To top it off, many people from Goiás like to start the day with a tasty pamonha!

People from Maranhão also have their own special way of starting the morning and have chosen the best to accompany their black coffee. For them, couscous or a couscous farofa that they love cannot be missing. The tapioca beiju with butter is also good, or even a bun with egg. Now, the tapioca gum cake, even though it is a custom of the elders, passes from generation to generation and does not leave the tables of Maranhão.

Many people may be surprised by the Pantanal breakfast, which is traditional mainly on farms in Mato Grosso do Sul. Pantanal people call this meal a crooked break, a much cooler name than breakfast. It is served around five in the morning and looks like a lunch: Carreteiro rice, sausage, eggs, sujinho (a minced meat), mate burnt, dried meat farofa and fried cheese cake. Coffee is reinforced because they tend to go a long time without eating again.

If Minas Gerais had its own bible, one of the commandments would be “the Minas Gerais man will not live by cheese bread alone”. Yes, because, in addition to the cheese bread, the dishes that can be for breakfast are very varied. Want examples? Salt bread (or French bread) with butter or cream cheese, Minas cheese (of course), corn bread, carrot cake with chocolate, rain cake, sprinkle biscuit and rice pudding (that’s right) and a black “cafezim” . The train is too good.

Pará shares, by proximity, some characteristics of Amazonian dishes. Including tapioca beiju, a heritage of our indigenous people that was assimilated by almost all Brazilians. But tapioca also gave the people of Pará the tapioca bread, very easy and practical to make, served both for breakfast and in the afternoon. The technique is Portuguese, but the main ingredient is from our natives.

You may have already noticed that most people from the northeast start their day with a coffee and a couscous, at the very least. In Paraíba, couscous can be accompanied by milk, fried or scrambled eggs, dried meat. The variations are many. Another good present is the coalho cheese, with its toasted rind. Paraíba people also like to eat some fruit to accompany. What do you think? Would you eat couscous with meat for breakfast?

In Pernambuco it is not much different. Couscous with eggs or beef jerky, but also with boiled cassava, tapioca beiju with coconut or coalho cheese and simple corn or cornmeal cake. On a daily basis, people from Pernambuco usually eat bread with fried eggs or toasted coalho cheese, accompanied by pure coffee or milk. But the state’s protagonism is really the famous roll cake. Well, actually, this delight goes well anytime.

Unlike their Espírito Santo neighbors, cariocas cannot always have time to set that table for breakfast, except on special dates. Therefore, the carioca table in the morning usually has the average (coffee with milk), French bread or loaf of bread with cold cuts, tapioca with butter or jelly and fried banana. Those who have a little more time or are going to have coffee at the bakery still eat bread with eggs, scrambled eggs or a hot mix, cakes, jellies and sweets. Typical for much of the Southeast, isn’t it?

We have now arrived in the southern region of Brazil and have already put on our coat to withstand the cold. A breakfast in Rio Grande do Sul usually has the traditional black coffee with French or homemade bread, butter, cakes and very regional products such as cheeses, salami and other sausages. In addition, they still usually eat schmier or chimia, which is a creamy fruit candy to spread on bread, similar to jelly. Not to mention the traditional cuca, a sweet bread topped with crispy farofa.

Let’s go up a little on the map but continue south, to get to know Santa Catarina’s breakfast. In addition to the ubiquitous milk, coffee and bread and butter, some people from Santa Catarina have the habit of eating fresh fruit in the morning, especially papaya and bananas. Others do not give up starting the day with the usual chimarrão, which is well suited for the morning, as it works as a stimulant.

To end our tour, we disembarked in the state that has the most breakfast in Brazil, as it is the most populous! The traditional thing even in São Paulo is to eat an average. In some cities, average is the name of French bread, but in the capital of São Paulo, average is the drink with half milk and half coffee. Those who prefer a stronger coffee with milk should order a pingado, that is, a coffee with milk drips. To eat, a loaf of bread with butter at the entrance or exit — before or after heating.

The truth is that Brazil is probably the most mixed-race country in the world. That’s why we have in our culture, which includes gastronomy, influences from different peoples of the world and even from our own regions. That’s why it’s not difficult for someone to have a breakfast like this, with coffee harvested in São Paulo, a slice of roll cake from Pernambuco and cookies from Alagoas. The cheese? Of course it’s a miner, wow.

It’s best to stop here, as we’re already getting hungry. And what about your breakfast? Tell us where you’re from and what you usually have for your first meal of the day.