ABSTRACT

During the many months when I conducted ethnographic research in Favela da Rocinha (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), a favourite pastime was to eat at one of the many food stalls near the place I was renting in the favela. Unlike the better-known Brazilian ‘açai na tigela’, the açai berry smoothie consumed in Rocinha was usually sold in flimsy plastic cups and not in bowls. These cheap cups could often be seen floating in large quantities in the open sewers of the favela. The smoothies came with a variety of sweet toppings, including chocolate syrup, condensed milk and jujuba, which is a gelatinous sweet at room temperature. Mixed in a cold smoothie, it becomes as hard as ice. While I was eating an açai smoothie in early 2010, I broke a filling on one of those colourful jujubas.