Roraima on the Table: Amazon Fish & Frontier Flavours
Boa Vista's food blends Amazon ingredients with the frontier culture of Venezuela and indigenous Roraima — fresh river fish, Venezuelan arepas, and indigenous preparations create a distinctive northern Amazon cuisine
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Roraima River Fish Varieties
The Branco and its tributaries yield tucunaré, pirarucu, tambaqui and jaraqui — the freshwater fish of Roraima are varied and extraordinary; grilled or stewed, they are the protein base of the local table
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Pirarucu Assado de Casaca
The pirarucu baked in layers with cassava, tomato, onion and egg — the Amazon stew tradition — is Boa Vista's most popular restaurant preparation; the solid white flesh of the massive fish holds the layering perfectly
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Venezuelan Influence: Arepas
The large Venezuelan community has introduced arepas – cornmeal flatbreads filled with cheese, avocado or meat – to Boa Vista's street food; the venezuelan areperia (arepa restaurant) is now a staple in the city of
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Tucumã palm fruit
Tucumã — a small orange palm fruit with bright yellow flesh — is eaten fresh, made into ice cream and used in sandwiches (the tucumã-na-manicoba sandwich is a Manaus classic that has reached Boa Vista)
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Tapiti Cassava Press
Tapiti - the traditional woven basket tube used to press cassava to extract its poisonous juice - is still used in indigenous communities around Boa Vista; cassava processing technology is unchanged for thousands of years
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Native fruit varieties
The Boa Vista market sells exotic fruits from Lavrado and the forest - caju-açu (giant cashews), ingá (ice cream bean) and pitomba - unknown outside the Amazon; the market is the best introduction to food from the northern Amazon