Bill Hinchberger Paulo Affonso Paulillo in Bolinha's kitchen
São Paulo - The pleasant smell drifted not Heavenward but into the O Shil Beit Chabad Itaim Synagogue. It distracted the faithful from their Friday prayers.
Next door the Bolinha restaurant was gearing up for its usual barrage of patrons on Saturday, when Brazilians traditionally partake of their national dish – a black bean stew called feijoada.
To add insult to temptation, the recipe for feijoada includes pork chops, pork trotters, pork tails, pork ears, pork sausage and bacon. According to legend, and some historians, feijoada was concocted by Brazilian slaves who transformed scraps from the Big House into a slave-quarter delicacy. Citing sundry scholarly sources, the owners of Bolinha, nationally famous for its feijoada, argue that the dish is instead a Brazilian variation of European fare like the French “cassoulet” and the Portuguese “caldeirada.”
Whatever its origin, feijoada stands as an important symbol of Brazilian heritage. That creates “tension between Jewish and Brazilian expressions of identity,” according to anthropologist Misha Klein of the University of Oklahoma. Often “Brazilians with a strong Jewish identity, including some who are somewhat religiously observant,” will indulge in the occasional feijoada, Klein noted.
But not the worshippers at O Shil – no matter how tantalizing the scent. “As a counterbalance, we started cooking up cholent,” recalled Rabbi Yossi Schildkraut.
Culinary habits aside, Rabbi Yossi and Bolinha co-owner José Orlando Paulillo maintained a good neighbor policy. “You’ll break down and have my feijoada,” joked Paulillo. “Come over for our ‘feijoada’,” retorted Rabbi Yossi, inviting his neighbor over for cholent. Having reached a stand-off, the rabbi threw down the gauntlet: “Make a kosher feijoada,” he dared the restaurateur.
Paulillo took the dare – launching an eight-month quest for the perfect glatt kosher feijoada. Rabbi Yossi joined with Sergio Eduardo Geigner of the catering firm Kosher Eventos to introduce Paulillo to kosher butchers. Geigner contributed years of experience kosherizing just about anything under the Brazilian sun – notably the West African-influenced cuisine of the northeastern state of Bahia, which is heavy on fish and seafood and features names like acarajé, vatapá and moqueca. His motto: “If I can kosherize something, I want to eat it.”
Paulillo, his cooks and partners jumped headlong into a stew of trial and error. “When the traditional cut was from the stomach of the pig, we tried something from the stomach of the cow,” said Gaigner. Paulillo and his head cook worked the day shift; José Mario Ribeiro de Souza, known around the kitchen as Mauro, took over at night. “It was a challenge for José Orlando,” Mauro recalled. “They left stuff for me at night to evaluate for taste, cooking time, tenderness and seasoning. We tried several cuts of meat.”
The inaugural meal took place during Hanukkah 2002. Besides commemorating the newfangled dish, the event served as a reunion of sorts. “There were lots of people there who used to eat pork,” said Rabbi Yossi. “José Orlando kept recognizing former customers.”
Both sides claimed victory. “We even got the orthodox to eat feijoada,” said a beaming Paulo Affonso Paulillo, José Orlando’s brother and Bolinha co-owner. Last Hanukkah, the synagogue almost literally upturned the tables and held its holiday feijoada feast inside Bolinha. “We kosherized part of his kitchen – the pinnacle of pork!” beamed Rabbi Yossi.
Though only 37 years-old, Mauro has been working at Bolinha for 23 years. Here’s the verdict of an experienced feijoada man: “It is a little different, the taste of smoked meat comes through more, but it is good. Sincerely, I really like it.”
Every 30 days Mauro troops over to the synagogue’s kitchen to spend the better part of three or four days fixing up a batch of 200-300 kosher feijoadas – a month’s supply. They are not served at the restaurant but instead are frozen and distributed by Bolinha’s delivery service and through neighborhood shops and delicatessens in Jewish neighborhoods and the moderately upscale Pão de Açucar supermarket chain.
If given advance notice, Bolinha will make an exception and heat up a kosher feijoada to be served in the restaurant. The waiter warns these patrons that the side dishes like rice and collard greens aren’t kosher, but most people don’t mind – because they’re not Jewish. “We receive many Muslims and Seventh Day Adventists,” said Paulo Affonso Paulillo.
Bolinha – Av. Cidade Jardim, 53, Jardim Europa, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Telephone: +(55-11) 3061-2010.
Eat Smart in Brazil by Joan and David Peterson (Ginkgo Press) – a succinct but informative book about the country’s culinary culture. Click here to read an excerpt from this book.
