Flavor in Translantion

                                                         

                                                         Flavor in Translation

        It’s a common sense; every culture in every climate and in every country has a farmers’ market, all of them sell food such as fruit, vegetables and prepared meals. Because of climatic factors, each farmers market in each country has its own specific fruits, vegetables and food. I have gone to farmers markets for twenty-eight years in Brazil, where I was used to find my favorite Brazilian fruits and meals every week. However two years ago I moved to Chicago and not being able to find them was one of hardest things I had to adapt to. Because in The Chicago winter is so long, the farmers’ markets are frozen during for almost six months, which also freezes my feelings.

Brazil Farmers' Market

         What winter could not freeze is how much I miss the Brazilian fruit. I never thought I would miss fruit so much, specially the regional ones from the specific Brazilian climate, like Graviola, a green fruit whose taste remind me of a mix of strawberry and pineapple. Add to that Açaí, the small dark purple fleshy berry fruit from The Amazon, a fruit that makes amazing smooth and ice cream. It’s kind of easy to find Acai in Chicago, the frozen version, at a small market called Brazil Legal, or at Brazilian bowl, another Brazilian restaurant in Lakeview. However the ones I find here are not as fresh and pure as the ones I could find back in Brazil.

Açai Fruit

Graviola Juice

      Fresh fruits and vegetables are not the only thing that makes me homesick. For many people and even for me (I confess), the biggest attraction of a farmers market is a delicious kind of junk food called pastel. Pastel is a kind of snack that’s popular in Brazil. It’s a thin pastry envelope with different fillings and is deep-fried in vegetable oil. The most common fillings are ground beef, cheese, hearts of palm, cream cheese, and chicken. Pastel is similar to an Argentinean empanada, or maybe to a fried Gyoza. The truth is that I never found it here in Chicago, and I cannot explain why. It is such famous snack and known by everyone in Brazil. What I know is that pairing a pastel with Garapa, a kind of a juice made ​​of sugarcane, makes a quick and perfect lunch. I used to have this pairing for lunch with my colleagues during my college years and it is a habit that I kept while I was employed. The farmer’s market was part of my daily life, so I was kind of famous there. Naturally, not eating it anymore nowadays makes me feel even farther from home and my origin. I was already called by name and the sellers knew my favorite flavors.

Pastel

           Going every week to the farmer’s market in Brazil has another lovely taste, The relationship I built with the seller. In the neighborhood where I lived, the farmers market happened every Tuesday, and as a frequent visitor that I was, the seller of Graviola, was not only the salesman who sold my favorite fruit. He is Mr. Matias and my friend. However, this aspect about the relationship with the greengrocer I can just experience it a little bit here in Chicago between May and October. During these five months it is possible to enjoy the Green city markets across the city, but when the winter approaches, all the established relationships disappear like a touch of magic. That moment I have nostalgia of not being able to go to the farmers’ market to eat pastel, buy my Graviola and chat with Mr. Matias.

          What is lost in translation for me is realizing that I'm not going to find Graviola, Açai or Pastel in my new city. I will not meet Mr. Matias selling my favorite fruit or meet my friends at a tent of Pastel. I have tried to adjust my experience at the farmers’ market here in Chicago, trying the fruits and regional food, and it makes me feel less nostalgic about the flavors of farmers’ market in Brazil, but I still feel lost in translation. Maybe I'll challenge myself and start to try some pastel recipe during the winter at home, and maybe I will have my       Pastel’s tent  the farmers’ market next year.