Festival Fartura in SP has hot cheese and baked cocada among the most disputed

Neither the opening of the World Cup nor the change of weather in São Paulo discouraged the 4,500 people who visited Festival Fartura this weekend. After two years of online meetings, the eighth edition of the event took place at the Jockey Club and celebrated the diversity of Brazilian cuisine, in partnership with Sheet🇧🇷

“We traveled more than 90,000 kilometers across the country looking for inputs, recipes and chefs. We brought everything here”, says Carolina Daher, gastronomy curator at Fartura.

“The whole world felt the impacts of the pandemic. However, our sector was the one that suffered the most — not only human and economic losses, but also emotional ones. Being back is a fresh start”, says Rodrigo Ferraz, general director of Fartura.

Over the two days, the public tasted 22 recipes from 11 restaurants, plus 24 classes with tips and stories about regional food culture. Two successes with the public were the class given by Dona Clarinda, 53, chef from the Sateré-Mawé ethnic group who runs Biatüwi, considered the first indigenous food house in Manaus, and that by chef Bel Coelho, 43, from São Paulo.

“Gastronomy is an act of resistance. Few productive chains involve as many market sectors as food. When we practice this chain correctly, we affect pillars such as health, education and economy”, says Bel.

In addition to discussing sustainability, Projeto Fartura is also a way to celebrate the national food identity by valuing regional ingredients.

A good example is the baru nut, originally from the cerrado, and which in the hands of chef Ian Baiocchi, 33, from Goiânia, Goiás, has turned into ice cream, miso and snacks. “I only got to know the chestnut when I came to work in São Paulo, in 2008. Since then I felt the need to work on promoting it”, says Baiocchi. This past Sunday, he gave a course on the biodiversity of the Midwest biome.

Friends Ieda Barbosa, 56, secretary, and Sulamita Theodoro, 36, project manager, already knew Fartura in other cities, but debuted in São Paulo this year. “I’m after authenticity when it comes to gastronomy, I want what’s always loaded with stories”, says Sulamita.

Hot cheese from the São Paulo bakery Na Fila do Pão, by chef-baker Diêgo Penido, was the most requested item during the two days of programming —which, in all, sold more than 6,500 meals. The naturally fermented brioche sandwich is made with Serra da Canastra cheese (Roça da Cidade cheese factory), Reino cheese (Palmyra cheese factory) and Ronni mozzarella, and is accompanied by caramelized onion jelly (R$ 30).

In second place was the braised termite coxinha (R$35; five units), by chef Thiago Paraíso, from the Ouriço restaurant, in the Federal District, followed by the ribs with cheese puree and eggplant pickles (R$45), by chef Claude Troisgros, from the Chez Claude restaurant, in São Paulo.

For dessert, the baked cocada with coconut and babassu flour and spices, from the Casa de Ieda food truck shared the spotlight with the ice cream from Escola Sorvete, by chef Francisco Sant’Ana.

In the same wing, other producers saw their products run out, such as Cruzeiro do Sul cassava flour.

Communications manager Frederico Bastos, 39 years old, experienced Fartura for the first time. “I want to try everything I can and learn how to make entourage noodles [do chef Lucas Caslu, do Mato Grosso do Sul]🇧🇷

Harmonization was up to the Adega wine bar, which sold around 500 bottles. “The number of glasses sold exceeded expectations”, says Felipe Granata, 33, Adega’s ecommerce manager.

Concerned about the amount of waste, forks and plates were biodegradable. The estimate of the production of the event is that 70% of all waste goes to recycling.