A whole day is dedicated to the construction (and destruction) of this meal

The dish: Feijoada, Brazil

Plate up
Are you hungry? Like, really hungry? Because if you’re going to tackle feijoada, one of Brazil’s most cherished dishes, you have to be ready to eat a heroic amount of pork, beef, beans and rice. Feijoada – pronounced fezh-wah-da – is a serious meal, a proper event in Brazil, where a whole Saturday is usually dedicated to its creation and its eventual destruction.

This heartiest of stews traditionally contains all sorts of unloved offcuts, the likes of pigs’ ears, trotters and snout, beef tongue and shank, though these days many recipes call for fancier meats. A typical stew will now contain all or most of the following: Brazilian chorizo, a hunk of salt-cured beef, pork spareribs, black beans and collard greens. That’s all cooked low and slow for a good three hours, before being served with white rice and farofa, a fried cassava flour.

Feijoada - even though this is a much-loved national dish, it’s typically only eaten on two days of the week.Credit: iStock

First serve
For a long time in Brazil, feijoada was thought to have been developed on sugar cane plantations by slave labourers, who took all of the meat scraps not wanted by anyone else, mixed them with black beans and came up with a cheap, hearty stew.

That theory, however, is now disputed by historians who point out feijoada’s similarity to a Portuguese pork and bean stew called cozido, and the fact those offcuts of meat were actually highly prized by European colonists. Regardless, the name is derived from the Portuguese word for beans: feijao.

Order there
In Rio de Janeiro, it’s hard to go past the ever-popular Bar do Mineiro in the Santa Teresa neighbourhood for a classic feijoada.

Order here
At any given time in Sydney you will find a good chunk of the Brazilian expat community enjoying feijoada at Ovo Boteco in Potts Point. In Melbourne, check out the classics at Sambar Brazilian restaurant in the city.

One more thing
Funny thing about feijoada in Brazil: though this is a much-loved national dish, it’s typically only eaten on two days of the week. On Wednesdays, restaurants serve it to busy workers, while on Saturdays both restaurants and home cooks go to town.