Thanks to ASPROC, the fishermen are paid seven reais (about $1.75) per kilo (2.2 pounds), against the four reais they could count on by selling in local markets.īut restaurants pay a whopping 48 reais a kilo, because of transportation costs. Since then, the giant fish population has soared, from more than 2,500 in 1999 to more than 190,000 last year. The sustainable fishing project for the pirarucu was put in place 20 years ago. The pirarucu population has soared thanks to a sustainable fishing program in place in Brazil's Amazon
The taste is akin to that of other saltwater whitefish like pollock or cod.īarcellos, the executive chef and owner of the restaurant Barsa, is one of several Rio chefs who have happily added pirarucu to his menu. Served with a toasted manioc flour mixture and nuts that come straight from the Amazon basin, the moqueca delights foodies' taste buds and eyes, as the white fish contrasts with the yellow flour and green spices. "What they're doing for the Amazon is priceless," adds Jessica Trindade, the Brazilian chef at Chez Claude, an institution in the city's restaurant scene.Ĭhef Marcelo Barcellos uses pirarucu in his moqueca, a fish stew swimming in palm oil and seasoned with coriander that is a signature Brazilian dish originating in the northeastern state of Bahia. "Without them, there would be nothing left," says Frederic Monnier, the head chef at the city's hip Brasserie Rosario. The enormous animal, once threatened with extinction, is now on dinner plates in Rio de Janeiro's fanciest restaurants, thanks to a number of chefs who have championed the delicacy, and the indigenous communities who ensure its continued survival.
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