FOOD TRUCKS IN SÃO PAULO

A recent local regulation has established rules to allow for food trucks to sell food around the city. As the new ventures start to organize themselves and brand new trucks look for the best location in town, a pioneer idea has already taken shape in the format of a "Food Park".

BUTANTAN FOOD PARK is an otherwise unattractive space close to a busy hub of major thoroughfares, avenues, bridges and minor street. However, as a home to several food trucks and some stalls selling delicacies, it managed to become an almost pleasing setting, specially on a fine day, as, despite of a covered area with tables, most of its buzz takes place in the open.

Food vendors will take turns, so most likely when you come back after some time you will find different options to taste. In my visit last Saturday (June 6th) there were, among others, Argentine empanadas, Uruguayan sandwiches, Indian samosas, sweet and savory waffles, pork ribs, gourmet burguers, Argentine wines, ice creams, French pastries, churros, artisanal beers, apple pies, pasta, and the very Brazilian macaxeira.

The intention is not to offer cheap food, but rather items with some gourmet addition... most things ranged from 5 to 10 US dollars, but in the whole I believed they were worth the price.

All around the area there are communal wooden tables for you to share with other foodies. Avoid Sundays which are usually extremelly crowded. A Saturday afternoon would be a perfect time to visit.

Where?

R. Agostinho Cantu, 47 (in the neighborhood called Butantã)

Opening times: Mon-Wed 11am to 4pm/Thu-Sat 11am to 10pm/Sun 11am to 8pm

Within walking distance of the Butantã subway station (Yellow Line)

Eating in SP - Pastel

After pizza, pastel is the most typical food snack in São Paulo. Basically, it consists of a deep-fried pastry with different fillings, the most traditional of which are minced meat (usually with added bits of boiled eggs and olives) or cheese.
However, gone are these boring days. Today you could find almost anything inside a pastel, from pizza (yellow cheese and tomatoes) and palmetto to dried meat and pumpkin, endives and sweet fillings such as bananas, chocolate, caramel fudge... creativity is the limit. Prices will go from R$ 2,00 to 5,00.

Pastel de Carne

If you want to taste a pastel like paulistanos do it, head to a street market (Feiras Livres). These weekly outdoor markets have a stall selling pastel in almost every end. This is so traditional that the city has been holding an annual contest to choose the best pastel sold in feiras livres. For a pastel to be considered good, its fillings must be plenty and tasteful, and, though they are deep fried, they must be dry, golden, and crunchy! Check this site for a list of the 10 finalists and the locations of the street markets where they operate:

http://vejasp.abril.com.br/noticias/dez-melhores-pasteis-de-feira

To make it a complete experience, order also caldo de cana (a kind of juice obtained from squeezing sugar cane), but beware, it is really SWEET.

Caldo de Cana - add ice and lemon drops

Since Feiras Livres close at around 2pm, you have some other options... some stalls and some specialized snack bars called pastelarias. Here we go with some addresses:

- Pastel Yoka

R. dos Estudantes, 37 (Liberdade subway station)

- Hocca Bar (home of the famous cod-filled pastel)

Mercado Municipal de São Paulo (aka Mercadão)

R. da Cantareira, 306 (São Bento subway station)

- Barraca do Zé - a stall without the street market

Pça. Charles Miller, s/n - in front of the Pacaembu Stadium

(no subway station really close, best bet is Marechal Deodoro subway station, but this implies a good walk. Streets to get there are beautiful and lined with trees, though).

- Pastelaria Brasileira

R. Turiassu, 2113 (in front of the Bourbon Shopping Center)

(Barra Funda subway station - long walk; take any bus that runs along Av. Francisco Matarazzo and get off in front of the Mall, the pastelaria is opposite)

- Pastel Croc 30 - huge 30-cm pastel

R. Sena Madureira, 450 (Vila Mariana or Santa Cruz subway stations)

Street Markets - Feiras Livres

Seemingly incongruent with the life of a hectic large city, whose main characteristics are heavy traffic and serious pollution, feiras livres, traditional street markets selling mainly fruit and vegetables, are still easy to find around São Paulo.

They are usually held once a week on a certain street (you can find a list of all feiras here, listed according to their neighborhood). Regular hours are from 7:30am to 1:30pm.
Also they are one of the few places in São Paulo where you may actually bargain! If you go early in the morning you will basically have to accept prices as they come; as hours go by salespeople start throwing their prices down and will be open to negotiate. For example, if they are selling a bunch of bananas for R$3,00, you could offer to buy two bunches for R$ 5,00, and so on. Fresh fish can also be found at reasonable prices.

The environment is usually quite friendly: salespeople - called feirantes - will offer you to taste their fruit, other people will chat with you, and almost everyone will stop at one of the stalls on the corner (no matter where you go, every corner will always have one stall) to eat a pastel. Most of all, they are typical old times' classics, places where you'll find people from all walks of life going around their regular lives.