BRAZIL, GLUTTON'S PARADISE

If you are a glutton, you are going to love Brazil! The best place to eat is at the "churrasco" (grill). There seems to be two options, you pay at the door, go in, and eat as much as you like. You help yourself at the counter. A "waiter" comes round every few minutes with a chunk of grilled beef impaled on a sword. He cuts off the piece you indicate and wangs it on your plate. Every few minutes he returns to top you up. Drinks are extra.

In other establishments you load up your plate and pay by the kilogram.

The quality of the food is excellent. None of your factory food or supermarket rubbish here. Real bread and jam, proper butter. Superb gateaus and cakes. A stunning range of fruit (temperate and tropical). An amazing range of fruit juices. All this for two or three pounds.

As regards hygene, in the cities at least, eating establishments seem to be spotlessly clean.

The best place we found was in Foz do Iguasso (see below). For an expensive-by-local-standards £10 there was a veritable repast with a band and dancing thrown in. The tables groaned under the weight of dazzlingly colourful food which had clearly been set out by some arty crafty type. The best comparison I can think of is with some medieval food orgy. The quality was outstanding.

Rafain,

Av.das Cataratas 1749, ,

Km 6,5,

Foz do Iguasso,

Tel/Fax (045)523-1177