If invited to free associate about “Brazilian cuisine,” most foreigners would be hard-pressed to conjure up anything beyond feijoada, the ubiquitous national stew of beans, salted beef, pork, and sausage, and caipirinha, the hipster cocktail du jour in which cachaça (Brazilian version of rum) is shaken up with crushed ice, lime, and sugar.

Often, Brazilian restaurants abroad tend to traffic in watered-down versions of Bahian cooking, which entices with its strong flavors and exotic African influences. There are also Brazilian churrascarias that delight meat lovers by serving up prime cuts of barbecued beef, even though churrasco, a hallmark of the Gaúcho culture of the Pampas, is as popular in Argentina and Uruguay as it is in southern Brazil.

When you travel to Brazil, you won’t encounter a uniform Brazilian cuisine. Of course, certain basic staples compose the foundations of the Brazilian diet—most famously, the classic duo of arroz e feijão (rice and beans), which can be found all over Latin America, but which Brazilians love as they do their mothers. I know Brazilians who return from journeys to Paris, London, and Rome, and the first thing they do to matar as saudades (“kill” their homesickness) is cook up a pot of feijão or feijoada (and invite 20 people over).

However, the most fascinating discovery you’ll make about Brazilian cuisine is that there isn’t one—rather, there are many. Ultimately, Brazilian cooking is the sum of its regions, which means that the food you’ll encounter is as diverse, surprising, and unforgettable as the country itself. Brazilians love food, and every social occasion, from a birthday party to an afternoon on the beach or a night at a bar, comes replete with some sort of wonderful petisco or tira-gosto (appetizer) to nibble on.

In general, cooking is simple but honest. What makes a Brazilian dish seem elaborate is the sheer abundance of ingredients, all of them natural (it’s very easy to avoid chemical additives in Brazil), and the savoir faire with which they are combined. Whether following traditional family recipes or creating daring new dishes that merge imported techniques with local fare, Brazilians generally put a lot of effort and care into the food they prepare, and you’re sure to appreciate the results.

Throughout this guide, considerable attention has been devoted to both local and regional cuisines. Nonetheless, the following overview will give you an appetizing overview of the specialties of each geographic region.