To simplify the Feijoada cooking process, I created two web pages.
http://coolname001.angelfire.com/Feijoadaingreds.htm is a table for keeping track of ingredients and ingredient quantities used in various versions of Feijoada.
http://coolname001.angelfire.com/feijoadamethod.htm is a rewrite of the difficult to understand Whole Foods recipe at
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=1161.
Both pages halve the quantities in the Whole Foods recipe changed from prepared for eight, to prepared for four.
I tried the Brazilian Feijoada at the Whole Foods Hot foods bar in Newtonville. I thought: this tastes great; it uses inexpensive ingredients; it uses nutritious ingredients; it provides a balance of vegetable and meat ingredients; it uses meat ingredients to render vegetable ingredients more appetizing and palatable than they usually are.
Alexx, a guy who works at the Deli at Whole Foods Newtonville, told me that Brazilian Feijoada is 'Brazilian slave food'. In fact the next time they had Brazilian food at their hot foods bar there was no 'slave food' Feijoada available. I assumed Alexx knew what he was talking about because he looked South American. However, at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kale I read that Feijoada is Brazil's "national dish".
Wikipedia states at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feijoada that "In Brazil, Feijoada is considered the national dish, which was brought to South America by the Portuguese, based in ancient Feijoada recipes from the Portuguese regions of
Beira,
Estremadura and
Trás-os-Montes".
So Feijoada actually is not merely a 'slave food' but rather the flagship food of Brazil. Then again maybe some think that the New Word Order is that a national food is a slave food because a typical person in a nation is merely a slave.
Kale is indeed nutritious, "very high in
beta carotene,
vitamin K,
vitamin C,
lutein,
zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in
calcium." (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kale). Kale has a long history of being an important part of the diet in Europe.
(Patients taking meds such as Warfarin should consider avoiding Kale, says Wiki, because Kale increases Vitamin K levels, whereas the meds are attempting to reduce vitamin K levels).
The black beans in the Feijoada are according to Whole Foods (
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=2) extremely nutritious, a great source of antioxidants, fibre, protein, and minerals. The vegetable protein in the beans compliments the animal protein in the pork.
The broth used in the Feijoada is a natural source of many helpful nutrients such as Gelatin, which ounce for ounce is extremely high in protein (
http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/brothisbeautiful.html).
Labels: Black beans, Brazilian food, chicken broth, cooking, Feijoada, Kale, vitamin K
