Excerpt from Eat Smart in Brazil, by Joan Peterson

​The coastal Tupi Indians were the first aboriginal people to interact with the Portuguese when they arrived in the New World in the early 1500s. They taught the early colonists how to adapt to their new environment, how to use the many unusual foods growing there, and how to cultivate these crops since the humid, tropical environment of the northeast was unsuitable for wheat and several other crops the Portuguese colonists depended on.
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Out of necessity, the Portuguese were forced to develop many new eating habits based on indigenous foods. They quickly learned from the native Brazilians how to make manioc meal, their main food staple, which derived from the manioc tuber, a carbohydrate-rich food that is easy to propagate but difficult to process, at least for the bitter variety, which is poisonous when raw. It is astonishing that the Indians determined that these tubers were edible at all. To detoxify manioc, the tubers had to be peeled and grated and the pulp put into long, supple cylinders—called tipitis—made of woven plant fibers (see illustration below). Each tube was then hung with a heavy weight at the bottom, which compressed the pulp and expressed the poisonous juice. The pulp could then be removed, washed and roasted, rendering it safe to eat. The product was a coarse meal or flour known as farinha de mandioca, which is as basic to the diet of Brazilians today as it was to the early Indians. Starch settling out from the extracted juice was heated on a flat surface, causing individual starch grains to pop open and clump together into small, round granules called tapioca. The extracted juice, boiled down to remove the poison, was used as the basis of the sauce known as tucupí. In the northern region of modern Brazil, several noted and delicious dishes incorporate this traditional sauce.

The Indians also introduced the Portuguese to the non-poisonous tubers of sweet manioc, which are somewhat fibrous but considerably easier to prepare. These tubers are pared, boiled for several hours to soften them, and eaten like potatoes.

Farofa de Manteiga
​(Side dish of) buttered manioc meal. Serves 4.
From Eat Smart in Brazil by Joan Peterson
2-3 T. Vegetable oil
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
1 egg
1 c. manioc meal
2 T. fresh parsley, minced
salt and pepper to taste
Sauté onion in butter until soft, but not browned. Reduce heat and add egg, stirring until scrambled and well mixed. Gradually add manioc meal until the mixture becomes golden and resembles toasted bread crumbs. Add salt and pepper and stir in parsley.

by Joan Peterson, publisher and co-author of Eat Smart in India: How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods, & Embark on a Tasting Adventure

The recommended man in Gaziantep reached out to a friend of his who could speak English--Efkan Güllü--and he became my host in Gaziantep. But the really fascinating story is that Efkan was, at the time, the current head of the Gaziantep branch of Güllüoğlu, the finest baklava makers in Turkey. I had the chance to tour his factory and sample many types of baklava desserts, as well as several other desserts made with tel kadayıf, delicate strands of griddle-fried dough made of flour and water, which are gathered from the griddle in large handfuls when done. ​

Efkan kindly made arrangements for me to visit the Güllüoğlu baklava makers in Istanbul when I returned there at the end of my research trip before heading home. Although the Güllüoğlu family started their baklava adventure in Gaziantep (1820), other branches of the family were in the baklava business as well. The Istanbul branch I visited was in the Karaköy district. It was the first branch of the company business outside of Gaziantep, begun in 1949. The current head of this branch is Nadir Güllü. He gave me the full tour of his fascinating 7-story factory. Among the floors, there is one devoted to making the dough and rolling it out to create baklava and other desserts; one where the treats are baked and then doused with sugar syrup; one for offices; and one that is a dormitory for the men, who also work during Ramadan and are usually too tired to go home since they have fasted all day. The basement was actually intriguing as well. It had all the typical equipment basements have, furnaces, water purification units, etc., and everything was painted either bright yellow, blue, or red. It was the cleanest most colorful basement I ever saw. ​

The following is an excerpt from Eat Smart in Norway, by Joan Peterson, published by Ginkgo Press, Inc.  To purchase Eat Smart in Norway, click here.   ⓒ 2011 Ginkgo Press, Inc. 

Practically all of the ice cap covering Norway in the last Ice Age had melted by 7000 BCE. Tundra-like vegetation emerged, providing favorable grazing for herds of reindeer that later would tempt arctic hunters.

The first migrations of people into Norway came mainly from the south. Southern Sweden at that time was connected to Denmark, and hence to the European Continent, by a land bridge that existed because sea levels were low and most of the North Sea was dry. Small, scattered groups of people from the continent presumably made their way north along this bridge to Sweden and then into southern Norway. Evidence of human habitation in Norway from these first migrations has been found along the southeastern coast, east of the Oslofjord, and along the western coast as far north as central Norway. The implements found in the settlements indicate that this culture (Fosna) hunted and fished in the coastal regions and hunted reindeer in the mountains.

Traces of human life were also found at Komsa in Finnmark on the northern coast of Norway. The Komsa culture of hunters and fishermen apparently was entirely coastal, and may have entered northeastern Norway from Finland or Russia in the vicinity of the Varanger Peninsula. According to some archaeologists, the indigenous arctic culture in northern Norway known as the Sámi or Lapps may be descended from the Komsa culture.

The first farming society, the Early Funnel Beaker Culture, appeared in the vicinity of the Oslofjord in southeastern Norway in the Early Neolithic Period, 4000–3300 BCE. The vegetation of this area and the specific crops that the early agriculturalists grew have been deduced from an analysis of pollen found in bogs and in lake-bottom sediment. The land was covered with dense forests of oak, elm, lime, and ash, which were cleared with axes and by fire to provide land for planting barley and growing pastoral crops of plantain, nettle, and wormwood (fat hen). Goats and sheep were domesticated. Agriculture and animal husbandry were also in evidence at this time in a few areas along the southern and western coasts.

There have been conflicting views concerning the origin of the first Norwegian farmers. Archeologists initially determined that they migrated from continental Europe. Current consensus holds that hunter-gatherer cultures already in Norway began to adopt agriculture as a result of a dramatic climate change that caused drier and warmer conditions more favorable for farming. Foraging, hunting, and fishing remained important.