Vegan Sweets and Treats in Brazil

This is an excerpt from the Vegan Backpacker blog, where I write about traveling around the world and the adventures that come with finding vegan food at each stop. To read this post and more, visit www.veganbackpacker.com.



It feels ironic to be writing this post today. We’re back in Argentina, visiting the small town of San Ignacio Mini. Forget the idea of finding vegan treats here, the fruit and vegetable selection is limited. On our first night, John and I split a package of flax seed crackers for dinner. The previous night, while visiting Iguazu Falls, we had Subway vegetarian subs. When pickins are slim, we make do. When good vegan food is within reach, we seek it out and enjoy every bite. This post is all about the high times, finding amazing vegan treats in the land of Brazil.



Our first stop in Brazil was Florianópolis. Most of the supermarkets we visited stocked cookies by Jasmine. There were a lot of different flavours, including Brazil nut, lemon, coconut and coffee. We tried the coconut cookies and really liked them. Since then, we've tried several products by Jasmine and found them to be a reliable brand that uses quality ingredients and steers clear of refined sugars and preservatives. This is just about as good as packaged cookies can get.



At Vida in Florianópolis, which I wrote about in my post about pay per kilo buffets in Brazil, we found a great selection of vegan sweets. The most interesting find was ChocoSoy Pops. They're essentially the vegan version of Maltesers. They taste like milk chocolate and are filled with crunchy rice bits. The Carob House truffles were also a great find. Cashew nut was our favourite, but we also enjoyed one with rice puffs and another with soft bits of raisins. The ChocoSoy rice crispy bar looked a little dry and destroyed when we removed it from the package but it still tasted good. The chocolate covered banana reminded me of a Big Turk chocolate bar. John doesn't like bananas and wouldn't go near it. For me, it was a sweet encounter with chocolate-coated-fruity goodness. We felt very spoiled with choices at Vida and ate enough chocolate to eliminate our sweet cravings for a few days.



Our luck for finding vegan sweets continued as we traveled to Rio de Janerio, Brazil. Mundo Verde, a health food store, was right across the street from where we stayed. Once more, we splurged on a whole bunch of little goodies. We picked up a Carob House chocolate bar, garlic flavoured soy toasts, garlic and oregano crackers, sweet jelly candies, two coconut squares, a chocolate drop, Paçoca de soja and another chocolate covered banana.



Carob House impressed us once again. Their chocolate bar was creamy and melt in your mouth awesome. It tasted absolutely nothing like the awful carob chips you buy in the bulk section of health food stores. The sweet jelly candies, made from seaweed, had great fruity flavours and the texture of forbidden gelatin-based gummy bears. Paçoca is a common Brazilian sweet made from the simple combination of ground peanuts and sugar. The paçoca de soja we tried was good but I'm not sure why a soy version exists. All of the paçoca candy I saw was naturally dairy free. We were impressed once more by Jasmine's products and enjoyed munching on their perfectly seasoned crackers and soy crisps. The coconut squares, pineapple and cocoa flavoured, were the only let down. They were too sweet for me.

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This is an excerpt from the Vegan Backpacker blog, where I write about traveling around the world and the adventures that come with finding vegan food at each stop. To read this post and more, visit www.veganbackpacker.com.