Volver – Pra Deus Implorar
Reply
Monthly Archives: July 2009
Fruit terms in Portuguese
General Fruits
Apple – Maçã
Avocado – Abacate
Banana – Banana
Blackberry – Amora silvestre
Cherry – Cereja
Grape – Uva
Lime – Limão (or Limão-verde)
Lemon* – Limão (or Limão-amarelo/siciliano)
Mango – Manga
Orange – Laranja
Papaya – Mamão
Peach – Pêssego
Pear – Pêra
Pinapple – Abacaxi
Plum – Ameixa
Strawberry – Morango
Tomato – Tomate
Watermelon – Melancia
* – In Brazil lemon is limão-siciliano, Mexican (Key) lime is limão-galego, Tahiti (Persian) lime is limão-taiti and Rangpur lime is limão-cravo. Bearss (Siciliano) is grown in the hot and humid climate of Brazil for the same reasons it is the main variety in Florida. Whereas Mexican and Tahiti limes are better suited to the climate and therefore much more common in everyday use, the ‘Siciliano’ lemon is a specialty food item in Brazil, much appreciated for its fragrance. Most of the crop is eaten fresh, some of it is used for rind oil.
Brazilian Fruits
Açaí
Acerola – Barbados Cherry
Cacau* – Cocoa
Caju – Cashew fruit
Coco da Bahia* – Coconut
Cupuaçu
Goiaba – Guava
Jaca – Jackfruit
Maracujá – Passionfruit
It is estimated there are 312 kinds of Brazilian fruit, although only 6 kinds are widely cultivated (subtract Jaca and Acerola from the list above). Among the stranger kinds, there are names like banana-de-macaco, marôlo, araticum-cagão, taperebá, cariota-de-espinho, pau-alazão, marajá and fruta-de-ema. One strange sounding fruit isn’t mentioned though, it’s the ‘oiti-da-baía‘, which although the favorite fruit of Dom Pedro II, is extinct.
* – Cacau, while translated as ‘cocoa’ is not chocolate-flavored as the seeds from the cacau are what make the chocolate.
* – Coco da Bahia is a Brazilian coconut variety. The origin of coconuts in general is not known. Coconuts received the name from Portuguese explorers, the sailors of Vasco da Gama in India, who first brought them to Europe. The brown and hairy surface of coconuts reminded them of a witch called coco (that used to be represented as a carved vegetable lantern). When coconuts arrived in England, they retained the name and -nut was added.
Fruit-related terms
Pulp – Pulpa
Seed* – Caroço
Skin/Peel – Casca
Vine* – Vinho (or Videira)
* – Semente also means ‘seed’, but in a general sense. It is not used for what is found immediately inside a fruit, that’s a caroço, while the semente is protected by the caroço. In summation, caroços are hard but it’s the sementes that germinate.
* – Vinho can also mean wine.
The Peach-Palm tree
_2.jpg)
Pupunha (Peach-palm) is a species of palm native to the tropical forests of the South and Central America. The fruit is a drupe with an edible pulp surrounding the single seed. The outside of this wild palm can be red, yellow, or orange when the fruit is ripe depending on the variety of the palm.
The fruit of the palm is well known by the native population where it grows, and it has been used for centuries as food (mainly by the pre-Colombian native population). The fruit is frequently stewed in salted water and had for breakfast. However, it may be eaten raw, peeled and dressed with salt and honey, used to make compotes and jellies, or also used to make flour and edible oil. According to the Come-se blog (in PT), it tastes like a mix of corn with pine-nut, so while it may be popular, I have yet to discover why.
_7.jpg)
This plant may also be harvested for heart of palm, and has commercial advantages in being fast growing. The Brazilian domestic market for heart of palm is about five times bigger than the external one.
Batista Campos Plaza – The Best in Brazil
(Source)
The Batista Campos Plaza lies in the center of the city of Belém, in between the Old City and the Emilio Goeldi Museum. I would think it to be a top destination as in 2005, it won the “100 Most Brazilian Prize” from the magazine Seleções, for being the most beautiful plaza in the entire country.
In the 19th century, the land belonged to Maria Manoela de Figueira e Salvaterra, and because of this, it was known as the Largo da Salvaterra (Salvaterra Square). When the owner died, the land became property of the municipality of Belém, which named it Sergipe Plaza in honor of the new Brazilian province.
In 1897, during the government of the superintendent Antônio Lemos, the plaza began to honor the principal personality of the Cabanagem Rebellion: Priest Batista Campos, who died in 1834. In that era, the land was just a large square with some mango trees and a general gantry. Three years later, when it was inaugurated on the 14th of Feburary, 1904, it was already one of the most beautiful plazas in Belém.
Staying true to the plan for a ‘garden without gates’, the plaza has 14 entrances. Later on, the walkways of the plaza received reinvestments in the form of Portuguese mosaics with Marajoran motifs. The plaza has a bandstand, waterways, brigdes and it is surrounded by native trees.
In 1983, the Batista Campos Plaza was remodeled by the municipality. In 1986, new equipment was added while it went through a restauration in search of characteristics lost at the start of the 20th century (during the first reform).
Alça-Viária & Bathing at Bica
Pará’s Alça-Viária (lit. Road Ring) is a set of roads and bridges that cross over a dozen huge amazonic rivers which set apart the wealthy metropolitan region of Belém, the misterious Marajó island and the oceanic northeast Pará from the enormous south of the state. Before then, the trip would depend on the will of the rivers’ tides.
This is the biggest bridge of the set and the only one of them suspended by cables. It crosses the 2km-long Guamá river. In its highest part, it measures almost 600m (a third of a mile) from the water below. Some video animations of the project can be found here.
(Source)
Balneário da Bica
Along the Alça-Viária, at kilometer 33, one can find the small bathing resort called Bica, which is about a one-hour trip from Belém. To get an idea of what it looks like, check out the homemade video. All in all, it has three pools full of mineral water.
Food Staples over 15 years
The Dieese (Departament of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies) reported on the large increase in the price of the cesta básica (lit. “basic basket”, ie. food staples) for the average resident of the state of Pará. Their findings within a 15 year period, since the Real Plan in 1994, showed an increase of 220.25%.
In accordance with the data from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) on the variation of the price index, Belém found a spot among the top three capitals of the country with the highest cost of living. The “basic basket” is comprised of 12 items. Those items include things like beans, tomatoes, bananas, sugar, cooking oil, coffee, French bread, potatoes, milk, butter, beef and mandioc flour.
The Departament also states that the prices are actually increasing at a slower rate than in the previous years, however, the difference in value is larger than ever.
However, in the same 15 year period as the study, certain items have grown to be more expensive than others, such is the case with mandioc flour (412.20% increase); tomatoes (308.57% increase) and bananas (251.14% increase).
- Source (translated from PT)
The Bonde of Belém
(Source – Praça do Relógio, 1905)
The first bonde (tram) company in the capital of Pará was organized in 1868 by the American Consulate in Belém and a businessman named James Bond. Because of this, local historians attribute the origin of the Brazilian term for ‘tram’. Interesting to note that most tram systems in Brazil were originally built by foreigners, principally Americans and Western Europeans.
The steam-powered tramways of Belém, one of the first in all of Brazil, connected the Largo da Sé with the Largo do Nazaré. They were inaugurated on the 1st of September in 1869, using three locomotives and two passenger cars, according to the American researcher Allen Morrison.
Bond sold his system in 1870 to Manoel Bueno, who formed the Companhia Urbana de Estrada de Ferro Paraense (Urban Railyway Company of Pará), and during the same year, the Bonds Company of Pará inaugurated its first line of animal-drawn trams (using mules).
By 1883, there were already 18.5 miles of lines, between steam-powered trams and animal-drawn trams. By 1907, the British had installed their own electric tram system in Belém and one year later, the mule lines ceased to operate. The Brits operated the system during its entire existence, even while observing strict rules such as not stopping its first class tram for underdressed passengers.
Later on, in the midst of the second World War, parts became scarce and the tramways began to fall apart, despite increased ridership in part due to 1909 fare prices not having changed. By 1947, the popular English tramway in Belém closed shop, and with it, one of the largest tramways in Brazil to go out of business first.
For some great shots of these trams, check out the slideshow here, with photos by Allen Morrison.
In recent years, there was a revival of the tramway system within Belém, which you can read about on Mr. Morrison’s site (which also contains writings titled “Part 1″ on the history of the tram systems in Belém.).
A nice wide-shot of Belém – Scenes
(Photographer unknown. If you know, let me know)
Click on the photo to see it in its proper size!
House terms in Portuguese
House – A Casa
Home – O Lar (like ‘Home, Sweet Home’ = ‘Lar, Doce Lar’)
Apartment – O Apartamento (shorthand apê)
Studio apartment – O Conjugado
Small apartment – O Quitinete* (may be written as ‘kitinete’)
Mansion – A Mansão
Shack – O Barraco
Room – O Quarto
Living room – A Sala de estar
Kitchen – A Cozinha
Dining room – A Sala de jantar
Garage – A Garagem
Backyard – O Quintal
Bathroom – O Banheiro
Attic – O Sótão
Basement – O Porão
Laundry room – A Área de serviço
Closet – O Armário* (or ‘o guarda-roupas’, or ‘o roupeiro’)
Roof/Ceiling – O Teto
Driveway – A Entrada de veículos/carros (or ‘o caminho de entrada’)
Bookshelf – A Estante de livros
Fireplace – A Lareira (although I’d guess it’s not needed in most of Brazil)
Ceiling fan – O Ventilador de teto
* – Quitinete could be feminine or masculine. I haven’t been able to get confirmation…just opinions. Although formally, it seems the masculine article is used while informally, the feminine is used.
* – Guarda-roupas seems to have a fuzzy definition. Most Brazilians tell me it doesn’t mean closet, but rather “wardrobe”. The problem is that “wardrobe” means both a collection of clothes and where those clothes are kept. The word “armário” or armoire, also means wardrobe but in the second sense. Roupeiro is where one keeps their clothes. All in all, these seem like they are cabinets where clothes are kept and not built-in spaces within a bedroom or near a hallway. Come to think of it, from my recollection, Brazilians don’t have closets, just cabinets.
The Pepper of Pará
Pimenta-do-reino (black pepper) is a flowering vine, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, dark red when fully mature, containing a single seed. Peppercorns, and the powdered pepper derived from grinding them, may be described as black pepper, white pepper, red/pink pepper, green pepper, and very often simply pepper.
Black pepper is native to South India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions, especially in Belém. Outside of Vietnam, Brazil is the largest exporter and producer.
Japanese & Pimenta
“The history of the pimenta-do-reino within the trajectory of the Japanese immigrants in Brazil’s northern region, had the makings of an epic poem. There are registers of its cultivation in Brazil from the 17th century, but the Japanese were responsible for its production on a commercial scale.
The epic poem started in 1929, when Nambei Takushoku Kaisha created the Companhia Nipônica de Plantação do Brasil (Japanese Plantation Company of Brazil) and started the construction of the Acará colony (later called Tomé-Açu). The principal crop was cacau as well as other crops such as the pimenta-do-reino and rice, which were complementary.
In 1935, after frustrated attempts with cacau, it was decided that the Açaizal experimental station would be closed. Such was the destiny of Fukutaro Obana, entrusted with this mission, he would find in one of the corners of the station, three stems of pimenta-do-reino remaining from the 20 stems that Makinosuke Usui brought from Singapore in 1933. The stems were given to Tomoji Kato and Enji Saito who distributed pieces of the plant to their compatriots. By 1945, it had multiplied to close to 800 stems.
With the end of the Second World War, the pimenta-do-reino transformed itself into the “black diamond” of the Amazon – in 1945, it cost 30 cruzeiros per kilo and by the next year, it jumped to 85 cruzeiros. As a consequence of the destruction of the production centers, such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. In 1954, the plantations in Tomé-Açu totaled 332 thousand stems.
But, in 1955, the recuperation of the production centers of South Asia provoked a retraction in the market. In the 70′s, more difficulties; the intense plantation in the Tomé-Açu region provoked the appearance of diseases in the pepper plants.
Some producers went to other regions of the Amazon in search of better pastures. Others decided to develop other crops, while they formed and transplanted new varieties of pimenta-do-reino.” – Source (in PT, translated)
