CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE — PIERSON 



37 



the hungry dogs precipitate themselves upon the 

 stream and each other and snarl and fight among 

 themselves. A man standing nearby remarks, 

 "Some tilings have to die so that others can live." 



There is no refrigeration in the village. Rarely 

 is a piece of beef left by the time the butchers close 

 up that evening. When someone on a farm in 

 the community butchers a hog or a goat, the meat 

 is usually sold to neighbors and villagers and 

 cooked the same day. 



Chickens are usually killed by pulling the neck 

 until broken. "It's so much easier than cutting 

 the throat," said a farm woman, "and besides you 

 save the blood." Goats and sheep, however, are 

 slain by slitting the throat, as also are ducks, 

 geese, and turkeys. Hogs, like cattle, are killed 

 by sticking a knife into the heart. 



Cows' milk is little used, even by those few fam- 

 ilies who sell milk to the cities. "The children 

 just don't care for it," said a farm woman. "If the 

 children liked milk," said a village mother, "we'd 

 buy it; but they don't miss it at all." Goats' milk 

 may be used if the family is fortunate enough to 

 own a goat. Butter is rarely made on the farms 

 or used in the community. Due to the epidemic 

 referred to above, lard is scarce and families com- 

 plain of its high cost. 



The use of vegetables is limited. Sweetpotatoes 

 and white potatoes are used when available, as also 

 are lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, and ocuxu.''^ Gouve, 

 a plant related to cabbage, is rather generally liked. 

 Maize, in season, is sometimes eaten on the cob. 

 Onions are used only for seasoning. Some fami- 

 lies use the root of the caraguatd, boiled and mixed 

 with maize meal and beans and, for "greens," the 

 sowthistle and chicory, all of which grow wild in 

 the area. Palmito, or the central jDortion of the 

 cabbage palm, is also sometimes to be found, and 

 it is much liked. 



The principal seasoning used for meat and vege- 

 tables is salt. Sometimes also used are black pep- 

 per, vinegar, onions, tomato extract, garlic, and 

 marjoram; and, on special occasions, like those 

 when a suckling pig is being prepared for a wed- 

 ding dinner, wine and bay leaf. 



Brazil imports from either the United States 

 or Argentina most of the wheat consumed in the 

 country. In recent years, due to war and post-war 

 conditions, shortages of wheat flour have occurred 



'» Secchium edule. 



periodically. Wheat bread is much liked in the 

 community and is used when possible to buy. It 

 is not baked in either farm or village homes. Some- 

 times, if wheat flour is available for jjurchase in the 

 village, a mother will make hoJlnhos by frying 

 dough in fat, or bake a holo, or loaf cake, on top 

 of the stove, in a pan, upon the lid of which hot 

 coals have been placed. If the hens are laying, 

 eggs may be added to the ioJo; more rarely, milk 

 may be substituted for water. Maize bread is 

 unknown, although occasionally a housewife makes 

 a iolo de fiibd, or a cake made with maize meal 

 instead of wheat flour. Bicarbonate of soda or 

 baking powder is used for leavening. Sweet 

 manioc is occasionally used. It is either boiled in 

 water in which sugar has been sprinkled, or boiled 

 in salted water and fried in fat. 



Doces, or any form of "sweets," are much liked 

 and are prepared as often us can be afi'orded which, 

 however, is only occasionally. Among the doces 

 prepared at times in the community are rice pud- 

 ding; squash, orange, and lemon preserves; pe de 

 mole<2ue, or peanut brittle; itos de ovos, doce de. 

 pdo, doce de leite, and cocada. 



To make fios de ovos, or literally "''egg threads" 

 the yolks of a dozen eggs are separated from the 

 whites and beaten lightly with a fork. Mean- 

 while, sugar and water are boiled together into a 

 thick sirup. A small hole is then made in the end 

 of an egg shell and the latter is filled with the 

 beaten yolk and passed rapidly around over the 

 pan of sirup so that the yolk drains out in thin 

 "threads" {fios). After these have cooked a few 

 minutes, they are lifted out of the sirup onto a 

 plate and wound into the form of a small bird's 

 nest. A few pieces of cinnamon bark or whole 

 cloves are sometimes dropped into the sirup. 



To make doce de pdo, dry bread is first cut 

 into thick slices. The latter are then dipped, one 

 by one, into milk and, after being laid briefly 

 on a board for the purpose of i^ressing out the 

 excess milk, are also dipped into beaten egg. They 

 are then dropped into a pan of boiling sirup and 

 left a few minutes until the egg is cooked. 



Doce de leite is made by boiling milk and sugar 

 together until thick and dropping the mixture, a 

 spoonful at a time, onto a wet board where it is 

 left to cool. Cocada is made by cooking freshly 

 grated coconut in sugar and water until the sirup 

 thickens, when the mixture similarly is dropped, 



