South America’s largest city is famously a gastronomic melting-pot. It’s the kind of place where the best ‘local’ cuisine is often Japanese, Italian, Lebanese, or from Brazil’s Northeast over a thousand miles away. All of that is well-known. But for the newest additions to the scene, one heads to the restaurants set up by the most recent waves of immigrants.
On Sunday in the LA Times we published an article on a growing number of Africans arriving in São Paulo – quite possibly, the first time in the country’s history that a significant number have come voluntarily. Unsurprisingly, they huddle around food from home and each other.
Above are two flyers, which should expand when clicked upon. On the left is Melanito’s West African restaurant featured in the article (located at Al. Barão Limeira 19), and on the right is Said’s Moroccan restaurant (R. Guainazes 65). Both are unimpeachably authentic, and both are in the city center. But this is the real, gritty downtown – so for those that are used to lunching on Oscar Freire and dinner in shopping malls, this is a bit of a different experience. Below is a link to the article for which I really got to know them.
Continue reading, “In Brazil, opportunity and obstacles for Africans flowing in” at the Los Angeles Times.
