Nov 17,2024
Can you tell your moqueca from your feijoada? How about your coxinha from your calabresa, or pastel from picanha?
Brazilians make up over one per cent of the population of Ireland today, and are immersed in many communities as our neighbours, colleagues, classmates and more, but how well represented is Brazilian cuisine in modern Ireland?
The census of Ireland held in 2022 reported 27,338 Brazilians resident in Ireland. Going back 20 years to the 2002 census the same cohort was reported as 1,232. That more than tripled by the 2006 census to 4,388. That figure doubled again by the 2011 census to 8,704, grew at the same rate by 2016 to 13,640 then doubled again by 2022.
However, 2022 was believed to have significantly underrepresented the Brazilian community in Ireland for various reasons and, though figures differ from sources, the Brazilian Embassy in Ireland estimates the figures of Brazilians living in Ireland today to sit closer to 60,000 to 70,000.
The biggest concentration is naturally found in the major cities (Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford) but a burgeoning Brazilian presence can be found in most major towns too. However, even more than any Irish city the highest concentration continues to be Gort in Co. Galway, where Brazilians make up 13% of the overall population. At its height in the mid-2000s it was as high as 40% of the population of the town, which gained it the nickname 'Little Brazil'.
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The Brazilian population is relatively young in Ireland, too. The most recent Central Statistic Office (CSO) figures show that in 2022 almost 80% of Brazilians living in Ireland were aged between 23 and 43 with the next biggest cohort being primary school age.
After India and the UK, Brazilians make up one of Ireland's largest cohorts of non-EU migrants, so we wanted to delve into the visibility of Brazilian food and culture in Ireland by speaking to those who have chosen to call Ireland home.
"Brazilians and Irish have so much in common when it comes to culture and personality," the Irish-Brazilian content creator couple behind @KitchenChapters, Michelle Fox and Michelle Ricciardi, explain.
"We are both extremely friendly cultures, love to chat, dance and burst into sing song, adore sport, both have great senses of humour and family plays a central role in both cultures, particularly families gathering together around food and drink".
The pair began sharing their highly engaging, colourful and delicious recipe content on Instagram in July of this year but quickly realised they cast their content net too wide.
"We were doing all kinds of recipes meanwhile going out trying to find Brazilian cuisine but more and more ended up cooking it at home, and wanted to share that," they explain.
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Soon they realised the cultural exchange point between their two countries of heritage was their expert niche so decided to focus solely on both Irish and Brazilian recipes only, an even 50:50 split — just like themselves, blending together their respective traditions, cuisines and cultures.
Before long, talk turns to feijoada and Irish stew, which sit continents apart but in breaking down their composite parts are more similar than we all think. "Feijoada is Brazil's national dish," Ricciardi, a marketing specialist, says.
"It's a black bean and pork stew, historically thrifty, using lesser cuts and odds and ends", to which Fox, an actor who hails from Limerick, interjects "and Irish stew, our own national dish of-sorts, traditionally was made with mutton or lamb neck in a broth with whatever vegetables were available, the two are not world's apart –– both delicacies that came from necessity".
They post recipes four times weekly now - two Irish and two Brazilian - and have gained thousands of followers in under six months, with most posts receiving a mixture of comments and messages in both Portuguese and English.
"Ninety per cent of our audience seems to be women," Fox says, "and particularly we have found Brazilian women living abroad really want to connect with that sense of home, culture and community through food and recipes".
Jumping from the screen to the streets, we wonder about the visibility of restaurants related to Brazilian cuisine and talk to several Brazilians in Ireland who seem to align on the same sentiment: there has been good progress but there is still under-representation of Brazilian cuisine in Ireland.
For Alicia Gonçales, who has called Dublin home for over a decade, she has witnessed a significant change in the landscape of Brazilian food in the city. "Back in 2012 when I first arrived there were a lot less Brazilian restaurants and any I found were aimed at students so mostly cheap prices and lesser quality, but now there are so many more well worth trying, like Toca Tapioca, Fabis, Tucano and Brasileirinho and Bah 33º, which is my personal favourite as it is food from my home state".
Valesca Amaral Fortunato, who was born in Rio de Janeiro but now lives in Cork, wagers that those from the north of Brazil may struggle finding the flavours of home in Ireland but points to Sabor restaurant in the Rebel city and a shop called Latina to access those dishes.
"I can get by using Irish ingredients and like the selection here, but I really miss tropical fruits, for example bananas definitely lack the taste they have in South America," she offers, but adds that those from the north of Brazil may struggle finding specific ingredients to recreate the flavours of home here in Ireland.
Gonçales agrees, saying: "The ingredients from the Amazon area are very difficult to find anywhere else in the world". She also feels that those living in the Irish countryside and smaller towns have very limited access to Brazilian flavours.
Supermarkets have a part to play, she argues: "Ireland could do better with ingredients on supermarket shelves — for example Asian ingredients are very easy to find now in Tesco or Dunnes Stores, but I long for the day I find raw beans or other Brazilian ingredients, and I think those supermarkets are missing potential sales there".
The couple behind Kitchen Chapters also urge Irish people to learn more about Brazilian food and visit Brazilian shops and supermarkets. "Most cities or towns in Ireland will have a Brazilian shop, many of which are called Link Brazil or Real Brasil," Michelle Ricciardi says, "so don't be afraid to go check it out, the staff are always super friendly, they all love to practice their English and help locals find some great ingredients, like Requeijao (Brazilian savoury spread, somewhere between cream cheese and mayo) or Guaraná, Brazil's favourite fruity fizzy drink".
The pair explain that "most shops will offer salgados, a hot food/pastry counter for take-away savoury snacks" like coxinha (teardrop-shaped deep-fried, filled dough balls), empadinhas (mini round, filled pies of buttery pastry) esfihas (a triangle stuffed pastry parcel) and pão de queijo (cheese bread).
Michelle Fox adds: "Some of the best shops, like Real Brasil in Gort, even have butcher counters preparing special cuts of meat so common in Brazil but lesser-found in Ireland and almost all are using Irish meat and applying Brazilian butchery techniques to it, so the likes of picanha Irlandesa (rump cap) has become a real thing –– even in UK stores!"
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What do Brazilians living in Ireland miss most of the food from home, we wonder? "When I feel a bit homesick, Fabi's Grill is my go-to," Samara Oliveira, based in Dublin but originally from São Paolo, says. "They do a daily-changing 'menu do dia' of traditional Brazilian dishes like feijoada (black bean and pork stew) or vaca atolada (slow-cooked beef with cassava) at a special price which never disappoints, but also a full menu to choose from too."
What Oliveira misses in Ireland from home is the botecos, "casual bars where you neither need to plan ahead nor dress up, just like some spots spilling out onto South William Street on a sunny day — in a bohemian city like São Paolo they are everywhere, but thankfully places like Wigwam and The Woolshed regularly host events that remind us of home". Suellen Machado hails from Brazil's deep south, "literally the bottom of Brazil", she says, so grew up with a cuisine heavily focused on meat and barbecue and really rates Bah 33º for an authentic 'gaucho' experience.
Like many others, she feels the Brazilian food on offer, or represented, in Ireland on the whole sits at the more casual end. "Brazilian food can be refined and creative and this aspect is really missing in Ireland," she urges.
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This is shared by chef Leiticia Miranda (Coppinger Row, formerly sous chef at Gráinne O'Keefe's Mae in Ballsbridge) who feels Brazilian cuisine is vastly underrepresented here in Ireland, but understands why.
"Brazil is huge with over 200 million population and a size equivalent to 120 Irelands put together," Miranda explains, "so it is difficult for any one restaurant to represent such an extensive and diverse country as each region of Brazil has a completely different culture, gastronomy and biome".
To shed further light, she explains: "Typical dishes from the north of Brazil have a strong influence from the Amazon, with cassava, tucupi, cupuaçu, and açaí but that is completely different from the south where there is a much more European influence with meat, barbecue, and incredible wine production".
Though Leticia has a background as a fine dining chef, and is a two-time finalist in Ireland's annual Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year competition (2022, 2023), she feels Brazilian cuisine in Ireland is "more focused on a Brazilian audience that misses home cooking" and that Ireland lacks access to the high-quality, local ingredients that would showcase the finer side of Brazilian cuisine.
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Miranda points to chef Luiz Filipe with his two Michelin-starred restaurant Evvai in São Paulo and chef Rafael Cagali at two-starred Da Terra in London as shining examples. With her own star on the rise in the Dublin dining scene perhaps she herself may play a key role in the future of showcasing Brazil's higher end cuisine on these shores. In the two decades between the 2002 and 2022 census, the Brazilian population of Ireland grew by 182%.
In 2024, it is clear Brazilian food and culture is becoming more increasingly woven into the Irish food scene with shops, supermarkets, cafes and restaurants led by Brazilian chefs and entrepreneurs creating spaces in towns and cities across the land which shine a light on Brazilian culture through its cuisine.
It may not be fine dining just yet, but a taste of home for Brazilians is more prominent than ever.
A Taste of Brazil: Restaurants to try Brazilian food in Ireland
Dublin
Cork
Limerick
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