Fusing the Cultures of Sao Paulo, Brazil

By Sandra Scott

Sao Paolo, Brazil is one of the world’s largest cities. After a day of touring the city we returned to the Sonesta Hotel where we were greeted warmly by the General Manager, Zachari Mateev.

“How was your day?” he asked.

“Great! We visited many places including Liberdade, the Japanese neighborhood. We loved the Japanese lanterns streetlights and we were very impressed with the Museum of Japanese Immigration.”

“Did you know that Sao Paulo has the third largest Japanese population of any city in the world? In fact, it is the largest population of Japanese of any city outside of Japan,” he said. “Here at the Sonesta Hotel we celebrate the heritage of Sao Paulo, not only the Japanese heritage but the Italian heritage. The Italians are the second largest immigrant group in Sao Paulo. Our restaurant is called ‘Tabu’ as in breaking taboos. Why don’t you freshen up and meet me in the restaurant and my staff will show you how we break taboos here at Sonesta by ‘fusing’ the cultures of Sao Paulo.”

A short time later we entered Sonesta’s Tabu restaurant to find the staff had already prepared some fusion food. What looked like a traditional Japanese presentation actually had an Italian influence: shrimp rolls with zucchini, melon with Parma ham and tofu, plus a little risotto.

But the best cultural meeting was Sydney Santos’ fusion of the traditional Brazilian cocktail Caipirinha with sake to become the you-can’t-just-have-one Sakerinha. The lime of the Caipirinha is replaced with any of the exotic fruits of Brazil—passion fruit or coiaba—along with the better known kiwi, strawberry and pineapple. And the Brazilian cachaça, (sugarcane liquor) is replaced with sake.

The Sonesta staff was just getting started. They each had their favorite. And, we had to try them all! Bruna Campos Bergamini’s favorite is Sweet Sonesta, a wonderful mix of vodka and coconut cream condensed milk, topped off with soda and decorated with pineapple. For Elaine Rocha it was the Fusion: sake, ginger, Italian grape, Blue Curaçao, club soda, sporting grapes.

Which is best? I would never allow myself to favor one culture over another but just let me say, “I’ll have another Sakerinha.”

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