Brazil is not known for it's quality chocolate. This is very odd to me, since cacau is from the Amazon. Don't get me wrong: Brazilians love chocolate. But for the most part, they like milk chocolate. And less expensive, lower quality chocolate. I realize I'm speaking in generalizations, but go to any Lojas Americanas, and you'll find at least one whole row devoted to the following:
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| There's a reason it's called baton (lipstick). Eww. |
I bought a box of these on a recommendation, and gave it as a gift to my sister and family. They said it was just bad chocolate. I feel bad that their first exposure to a Brazilian product was bad chocolate!
In terms of candy bars, there are these:
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| Crunchy outside, nougat-ty middle. Not bad, but cheap chocolate. And sometimes the chocolate gets a little soft. Not good. |
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| Inexpensive milk chocolate with air bubbles. Meh. |
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These are yummy.
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But the WORST WORST WORST are these chocolate soccer balls. My kids won't even eat them. They are literally plastic. We got a bunch at a birthday party, and I threw them all out today.
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| Yuck. |
You can find good stuff. Talento makes some dark chocolate bars. I love chocolate bon-bons, like Seranata do Amor and Sonho de Valsa. And Diamante Negro is good (crunchy toffee pieces in chocolate).
One thing I've noticed in our three years here, is the introduction of American candy bars into the mix. First it was Snickers. They were more expensive when they arrived, but now you can find them for R$1.49 (or so). Then came Twix. These also have gone down in price. From a brief google search, it looks like they have been in Brazil since 2000 and 2001 respectively, but I didn't see them in Belo Horizonte until at least 2011. Maybe I was just so absorbed with daily life and adjusting that I never noticed. But it can be verified that
KitKat arrived in 2011, which is still about R$2.50. And now I can find Milky Ways! I used to eat a Milky Way a day in high school when I was playing volleyball. Oh my. What will arrive next?
Brazilian fast food chains (Giraffas, Bob's, etc)got sooo much better after McDonald's, Burger King, and other American giants started competing with them. Yep, nothing like the good ol' days when a Giraffa's employee would stretch over a poorly planned kitchen, sweat over the patties - clueless about recent revolutionary garments introduced in the industry like the hair net. Some people even reminisce about said period arguing that Brazilian chains were rustic, informal, romantic; unlike MacDonald's evil imperialistic and capitalistic efficiency (goes to show that morons can even infuse ideology into a fast food critique). Anyway I'm sure the same quality upgrade happened regarding chocolate. Perhaps some of the brands you mentioned just cater to a certain segment that isn't as demanding when it comes to quality, and prefer a cheaper treat. Even so I'm betting that all the products you mentioned improved (in other words some were even worse before Twix and Milky Way came around).
ReplyDeleteOn a side note: I shiver to think of what Habib's would have been like had they set up shop before Brazil's MacDonald's era.
Very interesting....I think you are right though, there are some populations that want Baton. I worked with a teacher that got a gift of some WONDERFUL dark chocolate from a student, and she gave it to me because she said she can't stand anything but the cheap stuff!
DeleteI hear ya on the quality of chocolate there. However, some of the fancier bars (the flat ones, like Hershey size) are pretty good. I think Gritty is onto something with the competition coming probably helping increase the quality. At the same time, who knows. If people are used to it they will probably keep eating it.
ReplyDeleteYes, my husband bought something recently for his chocolate chip cookies. Rather than trying to find chips, he just buys a bar of the nice stuff and chops it up.
DeleteYeah, the regular milk chocolate packaged for wide distribution is not worth the paper it is wrapped in. (And those soccer ball things - urgh! WTF?) But then, I have always enjoyed dark chocolate over the milk variety.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Cacao Show shop in our neighborhood. They have good quality chocolate, for a price (and still WAY cheaper than Kopenhagen brand). The price of one of their Easter eggs is more than most families will spend on their entire Easter family meal.
Also - where are the "diet" options for diabetics? Diabetes is such a widespread and growing problem that the government provides FREE diabetes medication to the population -- but just try and get a sugar free chocolate anything. (Not that they taste great, but for my diabetic husband who loves chocolate, he has gotten used to the slightly off flavor/texture.) I have had some pretty worthwhile chocolate and strawberry dessert pizza slices in the past at the rodizio. Try and explain that one to the friends back home. :-)
I don't go to the Cacao Show very often, but I do like the Teacher's day presents I get from there!!!
DeleteThere's a brand of chocolates from ARCOR called "Tartuguita". It's so good! It's cheaper than Garoto and I like it better. I bring that back to the US as presents whenever I go. My friends back here told me they like it better than Garoto's flavors.
ReplyDeleteawd
ReplyDeleteWow don't even get me started on Brazilian chocolate. I was recently re-gifted a bunch of "Kopenhagen" brand chocolate boxes (all kinds of different ones). They are all disgusting. It doesn't taste like chocolate at all, it's very bland and boring as hell. I told my wife that whatever supermarket this came from should change suppliers and she proceeded to inform me that these are high end chocolates retailing for $150 reals a box in their own brand stores!!! I was amazed at the magnitude of this scam. I'm hoping there is some artisan shops selling actual chocolate in Brazil because this Kopenhagen crap is not chocolate. It's worst than Hershey. I'm not a chocolate snob, this really was bad especially after knowing the price. For an example of what I would call mass marketed high-end chocolate look up "La Maison du Chocolat" in Paris/NYC/Tokyo or anything smaller and artisan made.
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