Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009
Her name is rio
I've only been to a churrascaria once - and I'm still full.
Churrascaria, for the uninitiated, is a Brazilian/Portuguese term that roughly translates as "barbecue," but might as well mean Meat-a-palooza.
Servers, known as gauchos, come by your table with an endless supply of grilled meat until you literally flash a stop sign - a little, round, red placard that reads "Nao Obrigado."
A curious thing has happened since I dined at Rioz Brazilian Steakhouse off of 29th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach.
A few more churriscarias cropped up in town, along with a Brazilian Butcher shop.
I also noticed a sign for Igreja Batista Brasileria tacked onto the First Baptist Church Family Life Center sign on Oak Street in Myrtle Beach.
A few blocks away on West Broadway, a sign on a storefront reads "Brazilian Paradise'' but this enterprise didn't look open as I saw piles of stacked chairs when I recently peered through the window.
Thumbing through Sunday's classified want ads in the newspaper, a "help wanted'' notice for a local churrasqueiro with at least two years experience caught my eye. Is that a limited applicant pool? Probably not, considering how this traditional Southern Brazilian style of serving meat has spread in local eateries.
You know about Brazilian waxes (ouch?), but what is the deal with all of this Brazilian stuff popping up like mushrooms along our Redneck Riviera?
We know our provincial town has become somewhat of a melting pot in recent years, and of course we know that the entire country's Latino population has grown by leaps and bounds.
But why have Brazilians decided to settle here and how does their culture mesh with our laidback beach lifestyle?
(I think those Brazilian micro-bikinis might be outlawed on Myrtle Beach's public oceanfront, by the way, violating the no-thong rule).
We sent correspondent Becky Billingsley - a local food writer familiar with the beach's Brazilian cuisine scene - on the chase to talk to local Brazilian-born residents to find out why they relocated to the Strand - and what she found out is fascinating, so turn to page 10 for this week's cover story. She discovered that while Brazilian culture seems to be flourishing and expanding along the Grand Strand, the actual number of Brazilian immigrants has decreased as the nose-diving economy forced many to leave.
We decided to take a look at the Myrtle Beach's Brazilian influence in this first issue of November, because the month is an important one regarding Brazil's status as a republic. It may be more of a history book footnote and not celebrated like Brazil's independence marked in September, but the South American country's European-style monarchy came to an end on Nov. 15, 1889, during a bloodless military coup, and the country became officially known as the Republic of the United States of Brazil. On Nov. 19, 1889, the new Brazilian republic adopted a bright green, yellow and blue national flag as its official emblem - and it's the same basic design flown over Brazil (and seen on this week's Surge cover) today.
Admittedly, I don't know much about Brazil, another reason I thought you, the readers of Surge, might want to know more, as well.
"We've got to be more aware of Brazil in this country,'' said Coastal Carolina University Professor Jim Henderson, who has a Ph.D. in Latin American History.
Like I said, I don't know much, but I know Brazilian Victoria Secret model Adrian Lima is easy on the eyes. I have seen travel shows on TV about Carnival in Rio de Janiero; and I do know the vast majority of Brazilians speak Portuguese, rather than Spanish, as Brazil was established as a colony of Portugal in the 1500s, making it unique among Latin American countries dominated by the Spanish language. "The language is one of those things that make it distinctive,'' said Henderson, before repeating an old joke: "Portuguese is just Spanish spoken badly."
On a serious note, Henderson said it really shouldn't be too much of a surprise that Brazilians feel at home along the Grand Strand, considering that Brazil has an extensive Atlantic Ocean shoreline, its economy has been traditionally based in agriculture, the people are strong-willed but have an affinity for having fun, and they're ``great meat-eaters'' who like to barbecue - descriptions that could be applied to many an Horry Countian.
Henderson, a Louisiana native, said Brazilians remind him of folks who hail from the Big Easy.
"It's like a whole country of New Orleans,'' he said.
In keeping with the Brazilian flavor, this week's Gut Reaction review, which you can read on page 15, visits one of the area's churrascarias.
I think I'm getting hungry...