The Brazil Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai has done a stellar job showcasing the pleasures of authentic Brazilian cuisine, currently served by resident celebrity Chef Geraldo Thomazini at Nossa, the elegant restaurant at the heart of the Pavilion. It has also done a great job educating visitors about the history, culture and achievements of Brazil.
With its dynamic pavilion design, educational exhibitions changing every few weeks, and interactive installations, all of the Pavilion’s activities have highlighted the country's efforts towards sustainability, biodiversity and inclusion, and showcasing Brazil as a country.
The final exhibition, currently ongoing, is one of the true highlights of the past 6 months. Highlighting water, the exhibition uses a variety of cutting-edge technologies including Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and immersive experiences to showcase various facets: for example, Water as Life, Water as Energy, and so on.
Throughout Expo 2020 Dubai, the Brazil Pavilion has highlighted the country's various facets through interactive installations, live exhibitions, musical sessions, and much more. One of the most popular of these events turned out to be a series of 6 live cooking shows featuring some of Brazil’s most respected chefs, with each show highlighting one biome and some of the ingredients from it.
The final cooking show of the season - and a fitting finale to this inspiring series as Expo 2020 comes to a close - was led by the vibrant and ingenious Chef Guga Rocha (@ChefGugaRocha). Known to be one of the most knowledgeable and innovative modern chefs in Brazil, Chef Guga took the stage to display his trademark flair with ingredients along with his usual sense of humor and spontaneity, which was much enjoyed by the audience.
He is the sort of chef who does not need a kitchen, a stage or even standard equipment to create culinary magic. Having travelled to more than 30 countries to learn their food secrets, Chef Guga is a vast repository of cooking techniques, recipes and methods that allow him to work with whatever is available at hand and create a delicious meal from it.
For the show, the young chef had chosen to reinvent some of the traditional delicacies from the temperate Pampa biome of Brazil, known for its moderate temperatures and vast biodiversity. As a starter, he cooked his version of the famous Coxinha, a Brazilian snack made with wheat flour and meat, served with the lesser-known Pinhão, a seed that is also a superfood rich in fiber and Vitamin C.
The main course was a sumptuous barreado stew along with a skewer of Picanha, a beef cut very much beloved in Brazil. The dish is mixed with manioc flour and was originally made in a clay pot covered with flour.
The grand finale of this final live cooking show was a delicious Tapioca sagu with a traditional Brazilian sweet, Chimia, made from the Butiá fruit, indigenous to Brazil. It seamlessly brought the elegant meal to a close, showcasing the best of the Pampa biome as well as the sheer innovativeness of Chef Guga's techniques.
Hosted by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), the Cooking Shows are a way to showcase the rich culture, history and cuisine that makes up Brazil. As a food researcher and frequent TV presenter, Chef Guga Rocha regaled the audience with everything from little-known trivia about Brazil to amazing stories of his travels and anecdotes from various countries, effortlessly providing entertainment and education at the same time.
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