Brazilian Christmas Food

December 24, 2015

Hi folks! What’s up? In our Dica today we are going to talk about the Brazilian Christmas food, and learn what we eat for a Brazilian Christmas dinner. Do you think the traditional Brazilian Christmas dinner will be different from your own? What about our dessert? Do you know what we have as a beverage to accompany this meal? Let’s see the most common dishes on our table and learn more about each of them. I am sure after this class, you’re mouth will be watering.

Learning About Traditional Brazilian Christmas Food

Arroz de natal or Arroz Natalino is a must have in the Christmas table. It goes well with almost all other dishes. What makes it so special is the number of ingredients that goes into the rice such as peas, corn, mushroom, ham, carrots and of course, raisins. This is a typical Brazilian Christmas rice and everyone loves it!

Frango Assado is a great substitute for the turkey if you want to save some money! You will find lots of Chesters in the supermarket which is the name we give to a bigger chicken, because they have a big chest. It doesn’t matter which bird you choose to eat, this is one of the most important Brazilian Christmas dishes during the holiday!

Peru de Natal is also part of the Brazilian Christmas dinner, but as we said, some Brazilian families prefer the Chester because it’s cheaper and easier to prepare.

Pernil is the name we use to refer to the roasted leg of an animal and for Christmas dinner we usually cook pork. A good suggestion, if you are preparing it, is to marinate if in white wine before baking it in the oven.

Bacalhau is the main ingredient of different dishes you’ll find at Christmas time. Empadão de bacalhau, bolinho de bacalhau, bacalhoada, it doesn’t matter what you are cooking. As long as you are using bacalhau, people will love it, and it definitely is considered a traditional Brazilian Christmas dinner.

Frutas are included in the Brazilian Christmas meal of every family. It’s a hot country, they are really cheap and delicious. So, why not?

Rabanada is one of the really special dishes on the Christmas table. It’s a special and sweet Brazilian Christmas bread. It’s only prepared at Christmas time and if you try to make it in any other time of the year, forget it, it will just taste different. Magic? Maybe!

Every Brazilian party must have salgadinhos, and the traditional Brazilian Christmas dinner is no different. Prepare lots of them because they are going to be the first thing to disappear from the Christmas table!

There many types of Nozes in Brazil but the one you are looking at are walnuts. Just remember to bring a nutcracker or you won’t eat any.

If you are preparing Castanhas cozidas, make sure to buy Castanhas Portuguesas. They are rich in vitamin B and C and also a great source of protein.

Pudim is one of the most desired Brazilian Christmas desserts. It can be a Pudim de Leite or a Pudim de Pão. Both are easy to prepare and even easier to eat. If you are in love with Brazilian Sweets then you’ll have to bring Manjar to the Christmas dinner. At the end of the meal you’ll find yourself enjoying this delicious coconut pudim.

Another very common sweet dish that we have for our Brazilian Christmas dinner is chocottone. It’s like a light Brazilian Christmas sweet bread with chocolate chips. We also have a panettone which is the same thing but with dried fruit.

There are still many other dishes on a Brazilian table, but these are some of the most typical ones. The Christmas Dinner is very important and, usually, starts at midnight, after we wish Merry Christmas to our friends and family. It’s also very common in Brazil, after we eat a little of our own dinner, that neighbors visit each other to eat a little of their culinary delights as well. This represents the bond of friendship Brazilians have.

Let’s Listen and Pronounce!

Would you like to prepare any of this traditional Brazilian Christmas food? Click on the links below and check out the recipe:

Arroz de Natal
Peru de Natal
Bacalhau
Salgadinhos
Pudim
Frango Assado
Pernil
Rabanada
Castanha Cozida
Manjar

Exercises About Brazilian Christmas Food!

Complete the sentences with the words below:

rabanada / arroz natalino / frango assado / salgadinhos / nozes

Minha sobremesa de natal favorita é a __________.
Eu não sei como quebrar as __________ sem ajuda de alguma ferramenta!
Os __________ são muito populares no Brasil, inclusive no Natal.
O __________ é como um arroz comum, mas tem outros complementos como milho e presunto.
Já que o peru é muito caro, o brasileiro decidiu inovar e comer __________ na ceia de Natal!

And what are the Brazilian Christmas dinner beverages? We typically drink soda, water, juice, and of course wine! That’s it, friends! Now we know a little more about the Brazilian Christmas food, come to our classes and talk about culture and traditions with our teachers! How is the Christmas Dinner in your country? What are the most typical dishes? Is there any big traditions for the Dinner?

We, from Rio & Learn, wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Clique nos links abaixo para ver mais Dicas relacionadas:
Family in Portuguese
Rio de Janeiro New Years
Snacks in Brazil
Folia de Reis

Answers

rabanada
nozes
salgadinhos
arroz natalino
frango assado

This post is also available in: English Português (Portuguese) Español (Spanish)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Search for Portuguese Dicas

Tell us which Portuguese lesson you would like to learn

Suscribe to A Dica do Dia.

Get free Portuguese lessons. Subscribe to A Dica do Dia and get short, daily lessons in Portuguese completely free.

EXCELLENT rating
Based on 264 reviews

Had an incident with a holiday. I selected Monday and Wednesday for my classes, since I can’t attend classes on other days. Due to holiday one of the lessons was scheduled on Friday. I warned about this issue on Tuesday, 3 days before the lesson, but manager answered in a rude way that they can’t do anything and blamed me that this is my fault I didn’t warn earlier. Teacher is asking their students to give good grades to the course on a second lesson. This is not teachers fault. Probably managers ask her to do this. Maybe my grade will change. Only time will show. At the moment as is.

Mykola Kurenkov

2023-05-11

Estudar portugués online com a escola Río & learn é muito gratificante pra mim, pois as professoras são amorosas. As aulas são engraçadas, com muita prática falando português brasileiro. Também eu posso conhecer pessoas de outros países e outras culturas. Eu sinto que moro no Brasil quando eu estou em aula!!

YESEA RARU

2023-05-10

Raccomando tantissimo! Ho fatto lezioni private e il mio portoghese migliora a vista d'occhio. Fluente in 4 mesi grazie a questa scuola <3

Giulia Benzi

2023-05-10

I took a one week in-person course and had an amazing experience. It was intensive and definitely highly recommended! I appreciate the great, caring and highly professional team : Diogo for your awesome and energetic lectures and dedication. The lessons outside the classroom were very engaging and a useful way to immerse into local life. Thanks Laise, Marta and Dayane for the great support and smooth coordination. I look forward to taking the online sessions next!

Cheryl Loh

2023-05-01

I joined the online classes 1 month ago and I am loving the experience. Shout-out to Professora's Dani & Nathalia,they're amazing! The classes are interesting,focused and the teachers are very patient. They also do extra online activities outside the class schedule to really boost your learning in a fun, engaging environment. My speaking proficiency is improving faster than ever before compared to other classes I tried with other schools. The staff are very organised, communicate well and I think the cost is excellant value for money. Vamos lá!

Natasha Deegan

2023-04-29

Followed one week of group classes in Rio de Janeiro, I had no prior experience with Portuguese. The classes were really good, fun even (we laughed a lot) and the material is very well chosen. The after activities (Rio Live) as well were so fun and the teachers (Diogo) always made you feel comfortable and had a lot of patience. We even went for lunch together to learn about this subject. I really loved this way of teaching. I feel like I have a good base of the language and I can understand so much more now.

Lena

2023-04-20

I have taken online courses twice now with Rio & Learn. In both group and private lessons the instruction was excellent. Classes were well-planned and the instructors were responsive and engaging. If I ever have the chance I will definitely sign up for their in person classes.

Heather Minielly

2023-04-18

Ich war vor 4 Jahren dort und habe dort die Basics in Portugiesisch gelernt. Sehr praxisnaher Unterricht mit vielen Aktivitäten und Spaß. Mir gefällt dieser spielerische Ansatz sehr und ich konnte einiges lernen. Absolute Empfehlung!

Lars Altmar

2023-03-29

This is the best language school ever. I spent one month, started with no portguese whatsoever, and now I can hold basic conversations and understand most of what people are saying. My progress was pretty amazing thanks to all the teachers who are AMAZING. I can't stress enough how nice, helpful and fun they are. In addition to classes in the mornings, the school offers different kinds of activities every afternoon outside the school. It's great to practice portuguese outside and also discover some great places in Rio as well as many different kind of fun activities. I made great friends there and had so many good laughs. Often the teachers also take you out of the classroom for the entire class or half of it to make it more entertaining. I truly recommend this school that was way more than a school for me. Thanks to everyone there, especially Diogo, Lais and Guliana for everything.

tessie cranman

2023-03-27

Rio & Learn is a great space to learn Portuguese. The amazing teachers and support staff create a wonderful and intimate environment to learn, through a varied set of mediums: class lectures, out and about lesson around copacabana, post-school activities as well as a range of 121 teaching options. I highly recommend this school!!!

londontoberlin

2023-03-22