Canadians’ knowledge of Brazil is generally limited to Rio de Janeiro’s famed Carnevale, Ipanema Beach and samba. We know very little, if anything, about the country’s culture, food and various states. Like Canada, Latin America’s largest country is comprised of different regions, each with a distinctive cuisine informed by its people (both indigenous and immigrant), the climate and the food crops that are produced and harvested there. The cuisine of Brazil is far more sophisticated and complex than that found in any one city or region – imagine if everyone thought of ‘Canadian cuisine’ as being limited to what you could find in only one of our cities or provinces?
On June 11th, Vancouverites have the opportunity to join Chef Yara Castro Roberts, one of Brazil’s top chefs, on a ‘cook’s tour’ of her native land. She is in Vancouver to promote her latest book The Brazilian Table, in which she takes readers on a culinary exploration of the flavours, dishes, ingredients and traditions of her vast country.
Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks and Cobre Nuevo Latino restaurant have teamed up to present a special dinner featuring Cobre Chef Stuart Irving’s interpretations of some of the recipes drawn from The Brazilian Table with beverage pairings by Cobre’s Beverage Manager, Jason Kelly.
Tickets for this intimate dinner with Chef Roberts includes Chef Irving’s specially designed four-course menu, beverage pairing and a personally autographed copy of the book. Tickets are priced at $95 and are only available through Books to Cooks 604-688-6755.
Chef Roberts is the first chef to write in English about the food of Brazil. She was the host of the Emmy-nominated Cook’s Tour PBS television series. Currently she is the subject of Delicious Brasil, a new series about Brazilian cooking and lifestyles. She began her culinary education as a young girl in Belo Horizonte, Brazil with her mother, Belita de Castro, a well-known chef who owned a catering business and a cooking school in Brazil. Her father Etienne, a journalist, was a gourmet as well. Chef Roberts received her initial professional culinary training at Boston University Culinary Arts Program, and followed that with classes in food history at Radcliff College and in pastry making at the Ritz-Escoffier Cooking School in Paris.
BRAZILIAN TABLE DINNER
June 11, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Special Guest: Chef Yara Castro Roberts
MENU
farofa & anaheim chili relleno
tomato carpaccio
page 66
Caipirinha
***
vila rica roasted pork,
fava beans & double smoked bacon
page 134
Anakena Viognier
***
cerrado free range chicken,
hearts of palm pot au feu, blue corn muffin
page 166
Brahma Michelada
***
Capirinha mousse,
brazil nut alfajore crumbled
page 200
Sagatiba Cachaca
$95 per person
Tickets through Books to Cooks 604-688-6755
Cobre – nuevo latino cuisine 604. 669.2396
52 Powell Street, Vancouver,
