why? why? [ zora santos speaking portuguese ] anthony: everything in africa is so fundamental to everything that makes brazil awesome. i mean, i could say the same thing about the united states, but [ zora santos speaking portuguese ] [ cida speaking portuguese ] anthony: ooh. uli: the catholic and protestants, they have similar ideology that the black people, right, should anthony: be satisfied now because it will pay off later. we ll get you next time. uli: because, yeah. exactly. [ band singing ]
had been forced to make this country their home. now brazil has the largest african diaspora in the world. and though brazil remains a country of rampant inequity deeply divided along racial lines, african culture saturates all corners of the society. this is especially true of the food. looks good. superb. [ zora santos speaking portuguese ] anthony: zora santos is a practitioner of old-school afro-mineras cuisine. she traveled europe as one of the first black brazilian models in the 70s, but returned home to look inward, becoming an ambassador for independent black women in the kitchen and running her own catering business.
joining us at the table are zora s daughter, catarina, and friends uli and cida. anthony: well, how african is brazilian cuisine in general? zora santos: uh, 99%. anthony: what do you think white brazilians would they say the same thing? [ zora santos speaking portuguese ] [ cida speaking portuguese ] anthony: zora prides herself for preparing food in the tradition of the enslaved african women who were, in her view, the matriarchs of the minera cuisine. she cooks with a serious focus on vegetables and greens, ingredients from the yard, basically what her predecessors had to work with, and applies west african technique.
anthony: but you had huge success as a model. how how did this [ zora santos speaking portuguese ] cida: she said it does not fit. [ zora santos speaking portuguese ] anthony: refresh my memory. [ zora santos speaking portuguese ] anthony: but you don t you don t think it meant anything? did it not in any way redefine what is beautiful? [ zora santos speaking portuguese ]
this is angu a dish simply made of cornmeal and water or milk, cooked for hours. there s ora-pro-nóbis, a native green very rich in protein. it was known as the poor people s meat and its use dates back to colonial times when african cooks had to make do with very limited resources. pork has always been common to this area where people raised and still raise their own pigs to butcher. ribs are on the menu today, and i am not complaining. but, look, everything that brazilians claim to love is african, right? the music, the food, all of the classic dishes. do you feel, given how central everything african is to brazil and brazilian identity, do you feel that afro-brazilians have political representation? zora santos: no. no. anthony: no. no. it s like nobody let me think. uh, no. [ zora santos speaking portuguese ] anthony: why?