Gourmet
Pela porta da cozinha
por André Sender e Gabriel Rocha Gaspar
Negros fundaram a base da culinária tipicamente brasileira, mingau, pamonha, canjica, mocotós, vatapá, caruru, acaçá. O que tudo isso tem em comum, além do fato de serem comidas tipicamente brasileiras?

Todas nasceram em mãos negras, na cozinhas da casas grandes. São pratos fáceis de comer, que dosaram a força e o exotismo dos temperos africanos para gostos portugueses. São misturas que resumem nossa pluralidade cultural ao condensar ingredientes e técnicas africanas, indígenas e européias.Durante três séculos, toda a comida da sociedade brasileira – majoritariamente agrária – passou por mãos negras.

Escravos (mulheres e homens menos aptos ao trabalho no campo) comandavam as cozinhas coloniais, inventando pratos, adicionando novos temperos e adaptando ingredientes indígenas e africanos ao paladar do “nhonhô” português.

Casa grande: palco da criatividade gastronômica negraComo disse Gilberto Freyre, “a negra fez com a comida o mesmo que fez com a língua”. Se em gargantas negras, Marias Antônias viraram Tontons e Marias Josés viraram Zezés, nas mesas da Casa Grande a comida ficou mais fácil, mais maleável. “A negra foi um intermediador muito forte das rupturas na cozinha da colônia”, conta a coordenadora do Núcleo de Estudos Freyrianos da Fundação Gilberto Freyre, Fátima Quintas. Por exemplo, foi ela que fez a ponte entre a mandioca nativa e o paladar português, acostumado ao pão de trigo. Para aliviar o sacrifício gastronômico do lusitano, criou-se o beiju de tapioca, entre outras mimeses do pão europeu.
Ainda hoje, a forte comida de origem africana pede adaptações para sobreviver ao gosto de novos consumidores. Luisa Inês Saliba, dona do restaurante Rota do Acarajé, em São Paulo, conta que pessoas do mundo inteiro vêm atrás da iguaria. “A gente adapta [o acarajé] a um paladar mais suave, principalmente no dendê e no tempero com coentro, que são coisas que chegam a assustar os visitantes na Bahia”. Muito por causa desta necessidade de mudar, Luisa é uma criadora de pratos inveterada. “Quando se trata de culinária, sou uma workaholic. Mesclo todas as influências, como de tudo, bebo de tudo, sou ‘pesquisadeira’. Mas um ou outro ingrediente [tipicamente baiano] sempre rege a criação”. Exatamente como faziam as negras das cozinhas coloniais – adaptavam a todos os gostos, mantendo a África como fio condutor. Nos séculos de escravidão, a cozinha era o espaço de uma convivência mais harmoniosa dentro da estrutura profundamente opressora do regime vigente. “Por uma necessidade de ter com quem conversar, as mulheres [brancas] da casa iam para a cozinha”, conta Fátima. Essa pseudo-liberdade do negro fora do campo, aliada aos momentos de ócio que o trabalho de casa propiciava, foi responsável pelo surgimento de pratos complexos. “As horas vagas e a quantidade de pessoas para servir permitiram que os doces, principalmente, demorassem uma tarde inteira, por exemplo, para ser feitos”. Este cenário, aliado à monocultura da cana, propiciou uma doçaria complicada, que inclui manjares, bolos e tortas.
Doces elaborados demandam tempo e dedicação
“A negra fazia uma cozinha de muitas horas, de muito trabalho, de arte”, diz Fátima. O esmero foi tanto que passou dos sabores para as aparências: dos pratos às toalhas de mesa. E, principalmente, nos tabuleiros – este modelo tão africano de vender comida. Na Bahia de hoje, por exemplo, as rendas são tão presentes quanto os cheiros de coentro e azeite de dendê. Os enfeites, tanto quanto a comida, são feitos com esmero e cuidado, custe o tempo que custar. Como observa Luisa Inês, “há que se respeitar a culinária, [fazê-la] com todo o carinho com que deve ser feita". Isso significa que o prato começa a ser feito no momento em que o cliente pede. "É tudo mais fresquinho", completa a chef.
Tamanho cuidado é preconceituosamente confundido com preguiça. Mas a verdade é que não há espaço para pressa na cozinha de origem afro. Fast food não bate com os tantos elementos místicos e sagrados que os negros associam à comida. No candomblé, por exemplo, até os santos comem. “A religiosidade do negro [que nutria muito menos pudores sexuais do que o cristianismo] com a sexualidade do português cunharam uma coisa muito interessante: doces com nomes sensuais”, aponta Fátima Quintas. “A casa grande era altamente sexualizada, com um cristianismo muito prosaico, lírico”. A comida era mais um estímulo sensorial, quase sensual. Por isso, doces criados na casa grande têm nomes eróticos como baba-de-moça, suspiro, sonho, teta-de-nega... A mão que mexeu o caldo da formação culinária (e, conseqüentemente, cultural) brasileira foi negra. Por mais que as mestiçagens acontecessem por todos os lados – como é praxe no Brasil –, no final, foram os negros que meteram a mão na massa. Por isso, tudo o que o brasileiro típico come hoje, desde o arroz com feijão mais básico até a mais elaborada paella, tem um resquício das mentes criativas da senzala, que uniram o paladar europeu às tradições indígenas e africanas. Formou-se uma gastronomia leve e densa, simples e sofisticada, forte e sutil. Um paradoxo de sabores e influências, tão diverso quanto o Brasil.

I have now returned to Bahia, sunshine and my garden, which has given me bananas last week, passion fruit and coconuts this week. The orange tree as just started to fruit and I am waiting for the Caju and the Lemon to do the same, it seems that it needs 5 years to get started so I will need a couple of more for the Mangoes to crop well.
I arrived back in Salvador near mid night and was kindly met by my fiancée's brother and cousin, I must admit to having some apprehension arriving at any airport after mid night but it is worse if you have to then get a taxi and go away from the city, head north on roads that are quite deserted, arrive at your house and know you are on your own entering the house after 5 months away. However i was taken back to their house and spent the night there and was then taken to Jauá the following afternoon, very much more relaxing and safe.
I had arrange with the bank to pay all my bills by debit so that the electrics, water and telephones would all function when I returned, I had electricity, water was in the tanks for me to take a shower but no water from the road and both telephones did not work!!!!! the water pumps where working, well my apartment was ok the house had been let out during the week of the festival for Saint John and every time that I get folks in the house they feel the need to play with the water pump, there is unfortunately a constant problem in Jauá with water and its lack of being delivered by the water company, either by the tubes in the road or any other means.
Also there is a good deal of new buildings going up at the moment and they are consuming water for cement and concrete along with the summer lettings, those that live in the city rent houses here for the weekend and arrive with large families, all going to use the showers, toilets, cooking and washing up at a time when the water company decides to cut off, litarary they turn off, the water for one or two days in order to conserve supplies. Water pumps are only as good as the connections and that is why they can work perfectly fine for months until some one plays with the tubes and the connections..
I have to get everything working fine so that during the summer I can let the house for the three months without too much hassle, with this in mind I am now trying to re lay the corrugated roofing which seems to have moved sufficiently to allow rain water under it, this has soaked through the ceiling of two bedrooms and turned them black, so they need to be painted but I need first to resolve the cause.
I had not used the car for 5 months and although at first I had managed to start the motor, with the help of some jump leads and a friends car, it did not restart after stopping even though I had left it running for 15 minutes, I took the battery to a small bicycle repair shop whom by chance had a charger for the battery, however the batery would not take a charge so I arranged a lift with a friend to go further a field and swap or buy another battery. We decided to go to a large agency because I could pay by credit card, I had given most of my cash to Antonio, the gardner, some I had used for buying essentials and I wanted to keep the rest to buy food. The battery was duly changed for a new one and then the assistant asked me for details to put on the receipt, he asked me for my Identity number, my work identity number, my driving licence details, my address details, my telephone numbers, the details of my car and the number of the number plate and then the card details for payment !!!!!!!!!! well this done I got a print out of the invoice and went to pay the bill at the internal cash desk, every one has, I asked if I could pay by Visa credit on foreign cards, my bank in Scotland had decided to change the credit card from Visa to Master card but had assured me that the old card would function until its expiry date, 2010, the Visa card was refused and the new Master card was not accepted, I tried my bank of Scotland debit card and that worked.
My friend and I then went on to resolve causes for him and we finished in a shop selling garden fittings, here I remembered that I need some new water spriklers and a garden tap so I promptly used the opportunity to buy them, arrived at the till knowing that the different cards did not function but needing to save cash, so I tried the Master card again, did not accept it, tried my Banco do Brasil debit card, it was out of date, so paid cash and knew that i would have just enough cash to pay for petrol the following day to take me to my bank at the airport in Salvador, not enough to buy any food!!!!!!
The following day I had to go to the bank and collect a new card, before leaving the house I had telephoned the bank in Scotland to know what was wrong with the new card, I have explained to the bank, before this event, that here in Brazil it is not every location that accepts Master card, they assured me that there was nothing blocking the card and that it was the assistants in the shops that where doing the transactions incorrectly, well after getting my new card at the Banco do Brasil I went straight to a cash machine to liberate the card and some cash for myself to buy food. Then I went to the travel agents to buy a ticket to Belo Horizonte, in the South of Brazil, we found a date and price relatively ok for me and then i tried to pay by debit card, the air lines do not accept debit payments for flights, so i tried the Master card, it would not accept this as well, so I had to return to the cash machine and take out cash to pay the ticket !!!!!!! it always seems that it is not possible to go away without encountering problems when you return!!!!
By the way i had to contact the telephone company to check that the debit payments had been made and then they came and checked the line, one phone was working after 24 hours and the other had a broken cable on the veranda, so i am now able to have internet use but here on the coast it is a very slow connection and difficult to load or download pictures or information...

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