Dining with Carnivores

Not A SteakHouse! Well Maybe...
There are some places that are just difficult for vegetarians. Kansas City is one of them. The further west (in Kansas) the worse it gets! So we dodged the traditional steakhouse invitation recently and went to lunch at Fogo de Chao  a Brazilian steakhouse with a full stocked all-you-can eat salad bar - not like the grocery store.

This is where a steakhouse is not just a steakhouse and you don't have to settle for a baked potato and salad. For the salad bar, you only pay $19.50 for lunch or dinner. Carnivores eating meat is more costly: $24.50 for lunch, and $42.50 for dinner. (Same 15 cuts of meat for both meals, but I guess the animals ask for a premium fee, when you eat them around dark).

Yes, $19.50 is more than we usually pay for a salad bar, but if your group wants steak let them have it, while you enjoy well-prepared vegetables, tabbouleh and even an assortment of cheese.

All were happy.  About 40 items on the salad bar and about 25 of those were vegan, 30 were vegetarian, and there was at least smoked salmon for the pescatarian. For the meat eaters, there's 15 types of meats. This will eliminate those funny looks from the in-laws (or carnivores in your group).

What is Farofa?
Farofa is toasted manioc flour (farinha de mandioca) from the yucca/cassava root (great wheat flour substitute). Have you ever wondered where tapioca comes from, but not the same texture or taste.

Photo from International Recipe Syndicate

If you ask your Fogo de Chao gaucho, you can get a side order of rice and beans (may have pork), or farofa with your hot (fried) polenta, garlic mashed potatoes and caramelized bananas (not plantains).  These items are not on the salad bar, but are included by request only.

Farofa is very versatile. While working in Brazil, I teased at the creative ways you were served farofa. Here's a great website to give you ideas: Farofa Recipe.  Vegans beware: farofa is often fried in butter so be sure to ask, and sometimes the chef sneaks in pork.  I use only palm oil (Dende).

Toasted Farofa Recipe:
I haven't prepared it in awhile, but here's a popular Vegan Brazilian recipe found at the Brazilian Food.com website. I'm reprinting it here:

Ingredients

- 2 TB olive oil, or palm oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 carrot, grated
- 4 scallions, thinly slice just the white section
- 1/4 cup blanched & sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup black or green olives, chopped
- 1/3 cup sultana raisins (soak them in 1/2 cup dry white wine)
- 1 cup manioc flour or flaky corn farofa or farinha de mandioca
- 2 TB parsley, chopped

Directions:
1.  Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
2.  After 5 minutes, add the red pepper and cook for another 5 minutes.
3.  Add the grated carrot.  Cook another minute.
4.  Add the scallions.  Cook another minute.
5.  Add the olives and almonds.
6.  Reduce the heat to low.
7.  Drain the sultana raisins from the white wine and add them to the pan.
8.  In a separate frying pan, toast the farofa over medium heat.  Mix constantly to prevent the farofa from burning.
9.  Add the farofa to the vegetables.
10.  Serve with parsley sprinkled on top.

Happy eating Brazilian style. 
Kathleen Brandt 
stradercom@aol.com