Brazil is the fifth largest nation in the world and largest country in the continent South America. The main language in Brazil is Portuguese and it became a sovereign state from Portugal in 1922 according to world atlas. As of Tuesday December 11th, 2018 the population of Brazil is 211,555,210. To put it into perspective, this is about 100 million less people than the United States has. Brazil has a warm, tropical climate because it is near the equador, temperatures rarely drop below 68 degrees fahrenheit. It appears to be a great place to visit or live in, but let's dive deeper.
Religion and Cultural Practices
As of 2010 according to brazil.org, almost three quarters of brazil claimed roman catholic as their religion while the rest of brazil is very diverse. The main Christian churches other than catholic include: Protestant, Methodist, Episcopal, Pentecostal, Lutheran, and Baptist. Other religions include: Jewish, Muslim (or Islam), Buddhist, Jehovah’s Witness, Shinto, Rastafarian, Candomble, Umbanda, and Spiritism. The last three religions listed are all influenced by African culture and were originally viewed by Christians as being slightly satanic (Meyer, 2010). Now they only have a few elements left from their traditional practice being seen instead as spiritistic.
Catholic was made the official religion of Brazil in the nineteenth century after European settlers arrived. They thought by setting up churches and teaching religious doctrine that they would be civilizing the native people there. Being the official religion meant that the government paid church officials a salary. Religion became such a large part of their culture and identity, “Many Brazilian festivals are based on the Catholic religion. (Meyer, 2010)”. As with most other countries, their people enjoy having a religion that brings them together and creates fellowship.
Due to centuries of European domination and slaves brought from Africa, Brazilian culture is very diverse and varied (Meyer, 2010). They all have a big focus on family structure and value with families usually being larger and them being close even to extended family members. There is a great amount of distinction between class based on money and skin color. Women are usually stuck in low pay teaching and nursing positions. This is similar to our country less than a hundred years ago. These differences in wage cause animosity between the upper and lower end class and they usually avoid each other. Although having distinction between upper and lower class can be seen as a bad thing, it creates markets for each and they balance eachother out.
Brazilians are more affectionate tactile people with men shaking hands and women kiss each other’s cheeks in greeting starting with left and then right cheek (Meyer, 2010). Businessmen always make sure to get to know each other before investing in long term dealings so they know who they are dealing with. When they go to dinner or events it is considered better to be overdressed than underdressed. It is also expected to arrive early and bring a gift for the hostess that is not black or purple because those are mourning colors of their culture and it is considered offensive. Their specific greetings and ways to being social is what makes them so unique and interesting to people from other cultures.
Health Status
Public health has a very political and social relationship driven by labor unions, committees, and political parties. Movements to reduce social inequalities during the 1970s while Brazil was under military dictatorship led to them making health care a right for every citizen and government duty when they made Brazil’s 1988 Federal Constitution (Guimaraes de Lima e Silva, 2014). They created a unified health system SUS for free universal health care. They use 12 percent state taxes and a collaboration of federal, state and 15 percent of municipal government taxes. The federal taxes used varies but they are currently drafting for an increase to a 10 percent federal budget. They do provide comprehensive care for prevention of diseases. Wealthier individuals who pay for private health insurance or use private health clinics are favored and given a bigger benefit when it comes to the division of scarce medical resources (Guimaraes de Lima e Silva, 2014). In all the World Bank considers their public health care contributions to be very low at 4% GDP overall so SUS is only used by those from lower class. Aside from financial issues in relationship to their public health they sorely lack in personal as they average 1.8 doctors for every 1000 inhabitants most of which are located in the Southeast and South leaving more remote areas without medical help.
Food Habits and Dietary Practices
Brazilian food is influenced by Portuguese and African culture. Portuguese brought salt cod, spicy pork sausage, hearty stews made of different meats and veggies. Desserts are based on sugar and egg yolks like custards and puddings. African slaves contributed palm oil, okra and preference for spicy dishes made with a hot chile pepper called malagueta (Adoption Nutrition 2018). Outdoor barbeque became very popular in restaurants with meat being carved to taste and served on skewers. These meats include spit-roasted beef, pork, lamb, and sausages. Beans are also a huge staple in their diets as well as rice, which is common in many South American cultures. Overall they have a healthy and balanced diet with sufficient sources of carbs and protein as well as fats.
Stunting and overweight are a big issue for Brazilian children. Especially true for children from low income families and those with parents with poorer education. Eating habits for children and infants that lead to malnutrition include: consuming few types of foods like milk rice and beans, not consuming enough meat, vegetables or fruits, drinking sugar water, soft drinks and coffee within first few weeks of life, and eating food with very low nutritional value such as gruel. Solid foods are introduced as early as one years old and many parents allow their children to grow chubby to show health and wealth. However, as their children grow older they try to get their daughters to grow up thinner so they can work in professions that favor thinness and beauty (Adoption Nutrition 2018). As mentioned, coffee and other caffeinated beverages are introduced early on and this could have a negative health impact due to caffeine having risks associated with sleeping patterns, growth and development, and nutritional habits.
Based on Brazilians food habits possible dietary deficiencies can include iron, vitamin a, and vitamin c deficiencies. For those who are middle class or above and can afford food, they typically eat three meals a day with an afternoon snack. Those in lower class can usually only afford two meals a day meaning an early breakfast and larger dinner. Lunch is the main meal for those who can afford more than two meals a day. They will have an appetizer, a meat entrée, with typical side dishes including potatoes, beans, rice, or greens, followed by dessert such as flan, custard or pudding. Their dinner is served around nine at a night and is similar to some of our American ideas of lunch foods. This would include cold cuts, soup, or seafood salad. Afternoon snacks include but are not limited to fresh fruit, pastries, sandwiches, or arepas which is a bread made from cornmeal.
As mentioned discussing their culture, family is very important in Brazil. Mothers and grandmothers plan everything they eat and meal time is a leisure family time. When they gather food with be passed around to the left, with everything but bread eaten with a fork or knife, wrists resting on the edge above the table when not eating, and served more like a European style dining. Food is seen as an exciting thing and they thoroughly enjoy cooking and sharing meals. For big celebrations such as holidays they often serve dishes with pumpkin or corn incorporated into them (Meyer, 2010). Countries who see food as a main focus and source of joy seem to be very happy, enthusiastic, and loving people, which Brazil is certainly full of.