On Sundays the English eat roast beef and yorkshire pudding. On Saturdays Brazilians eat feijoada.

Feijoada is prepared with black turtle beans, with a variety of salted pork and beef products such as salted pork trimmings (ears, tail, feet), bacon, smoked pork ribs, at least two types of smoked sausage and jerked beef (loin and tongue). It is prepared over slow fire in a thick clay pot. The final dish has the beans and meat pieces barely covered by a dark purplish-brown broth.

The taste is strong, moderately salty but not spicy, dominated by the flavors of black bean and meat stew. The dish is served with rice, collard greens and slices of orange. It is very good indeed. Typically in restaurants they will serve six or eight different pots each with a different type of meat so that each person can ensure his favourite and avoid his dislikes. At home a single pot with a selection of the varieties of meat is usually prepared.

On Saturday we were invited to lunch at the Novotel Hotel which has the reputation of doing the best feijoada in town. Our hosts were Lourdes, a colleague of Flavia and her husband Marçal who is a prosecutor in the Appeal Court.

The other guests were Lourdes´ sister and brother-in-law. We started with drinks and tapas in the lounge and then moved into the restaurant for the serious eating.

As usual I disgraced myself in the “eat until you drop” fixed price buffet. There was a lot of salad and healthy stuff which I ignored in favour of calories and cholestrol. After my second helping there was no room for the fruit and deserts. I had managed to lose a second kilo this week but I am afraid all the good work was undone. Fortunately Flavia was nearly as bad so my edge in our competitive weight loss campaign was not too badly damaged. Feijoada is a wonderful dish but not to be eaten too often!

One of the highlights of the restaurant was a trio of guitar, bandolin and tambourine who were playng delightful soft Brazilian music. It was a perfect background in a busy room.

After lunch we wandered up the coast for around 100km. It is much more the Brazil I was expecting. Miles of beaches, beach bars, surfers, para-surfing, beach football and general fun. There were plenty of much poorer people than in Vitória but not much sign of real povery. We found a cheap hotel, had a very light supper and plenty of beer and then bed.

In the morning it was cold (around 22C) and windy with patches of rain, it was not busy on the beaches but the restuarants were thriving. We tried to get a cruise around the bay but the afternoon cruise was cancelled. it was the captain’s birthday and he was having a party on board. He was already a bit tipsy and offered to include us in the party with no promises about when we would return. Regretfully we watched them sail off with a mountain of beer and churrasco.

We stopped in Nova Almeida on the way back. It is a nice beach resort with a beautiful colonial church dating back to 1580.

It was a great weekend and now we must spend the week eating lettuce