Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, is known as the bar capital of Brazil and therefore as one of the best places to savour the Brazilian version of pub fare – comida de botequim, or bar food.
In 2000, Belo Horizonte stepped up to the forefront of culinary events in Brazil with Comida di Buteco, an annual bar contest that starts in April, lasts about a month and closes with a big celebration. Dozens of bars participate, showing off their best tira-gosto, or the hearty food they serve with beer and cachaça.
Although bar food is the great star of the contest and accounts for 70% of the total value attributed to each bar, Comida di Buteco is officially a best bar contest and so 30% of vote value is shared by the categories hygiene, beer/drink – including beer temperature, which Brazilians usually prefer icy cold – and service.
Comida di Buteco 2009
The list of participating bars in 2009 - when the contest celebrates its 10th anniversary - is available on the Comida di Buteco website under "Botecos Participantes".
Comida di Buteco 2009 Winner: Café Palhares
See the list of top 10 bars in Comida di Buteco 2009
Successful History
There are many words in Portuguese for bar – including bar itself – but CdB Produções, the creators of Comida di Buteco, spelled the name of the event to make it sound closer to the way a Brazilian says bar food (boteco is short for botequim). Humour underlines the names of many of the entries, with puns and regional references.
Comida di Buteco has also hosted contests in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Salvador (BA) and Goiânia (GO) as well as in other Minas Gerais cities.
Brazilian Bar Food
Like its pub fare counterparts in other countries, Brazilian bar food is of the belly-patting kind that doesn't do well in calorie counts. Bar food staples in Brazil, traditionally served in generous portions, are a mix of regional and immigrant influences, resulting in a wide gamut of hearty combinations. Some of the favorites are codfish, lamb, potatoes, sun-dried beef and typical Brazilian finger foods such as pastel, a kind of turnover, fried cassava and farofa.
In Brazil, food this plentiful and with this little concern for hip or diet is usually referred to as baixa gastronomia, or low cuisine. Rio de Janeiro deserves to be considered a Brazilian honorary champion of the style due to the excellent fare served in the city’s botequins and to an undeniable tradition – at least one bar in Rio, Bar Luiz, is older than Belo Horizonte, a relatively young city founded in 1897.
However, according to many different sources, Belo Horizonte boasts the highest number of bars per capita in Brazil. Local patrons don’t seem too concerned about statistically accurate counts as they go around town bar-hopping to their heart’s content. Beagá (BH) has a guaranteed niche in the national food scene, enhanced by Minas accents such as pão de queijo (cheese rolls) and torresmo (fried pork rind) and confirmed by the success of Comida di Buteco.
Bar Democracy
The voting system in the Belo Horizonte bar contest attributes 70% of the vote weight to patrons and 30% to a panel of judges. Votes are proportional to the number of patrons that visit each bar and the process is managed by an impartial organization.
Cultural Events
Circuito de Arte e Cultura is the musical and artistic face of Comida di Buteco. One of the attractions at participating bars is the presence of groups formed by professionals with an academic background playing popular Brazilian music. Every year, the event celebrates a music great such as late songwriters Ary Barroso, who wrote the famous tune “Aquarela do Brasil”, and sambista Agenor de Oliveira, better known as Cartola (Top Hat).
During Comida di Buteco, restrooms take on an additional role as art galleries with Arte no Banheiro, or Art in the Restroom, which had its first edition in 2006. About 40 experienced and beginning artists had their installations chosen for the 2008 exhibit. Roberto Bethônico, 2008 curator, described it as an important way to encourage production and open up new possibilities for both the artists and the public.
Art in the Restroom is also a contest, with money prizes for the three best installations.
Saideira 2009
Saideira, a slang for the last round of drinks at a bar, is also the name of the celebration that closes month-long Comida di Buteco. Music shows, food and drinks by contestants and guest bars and the award ceremony fill up two or more days of Brazilian botequim-style fun.
In 2009, the Saideira will take place at CEU - the University of Minas Gerais arena (at Avenida right across from Mineirão, the city's soccer stadium.
The program (available on the Comida di Buteco website under "Saideira") includes great names of Brazil music such as Luiz Melodia, Beth Carvalho, Elton Medeiros and Minas Gerais revelation Marina Machado. You can buy tickets (R$50; check the daily US dollar-real exchange rate) at bars taking part in Comida di Buteco.
Saideira 2009 Schedule:
May 22 5p-1a
May 23 and 24 12p-1a
