Food before music

It is not easy to avoid sweeping generalisations in these occasional updates (maybe that is one of the defining characteristics of blogs), but here goes: checking out a new place through its food has to be one of the best ways of getting a superficial feel for the local culture. It is fraught with ambiguities, of course, because how do you define ‘local’, something which is as complex here in Sao Paulo as it is in London. But it has to be better than talking about the shape of the plugs (although it is splendid that man’s ingenuity is so diverse that there are so many different designs of plugs and sockets in the world). So last night lots of us went to Fogo de Chao, one of the more famous churrascaria restaurants. If you are a vegetarian, stop here. Before you even have a moment to visit the salad bar, a steady stream of waiters encircles the table with endless types and cuts of meats on huge skewers which are carved directly onto your plate. Once they realise you are a group of English visitors they bring out little charts of cows with arrows pointing to every part of the anatomy, each described in graphic detail. The lamb was particularly brilliant. Every churrascaria provides a method of letting the waiters know you want to pause: here your wine mat was red on one side and green on the other. How genuinely local it all is, I am not sure, as this restaurant is part of a chain with more branches in the USA than in Brazil, but anyway it was great fun, and if the social side is going well, the music-making tends to be better!

First concert tonight..................

John Bickley