Living in Key West during the very early part of my life and cooking career the influences that were powerful were Cuban first and then Bahamian and then Southern. It created the foundation that started me off on what I have come to call, “New World Cuisine”. But when life changed and we moved from Key West to Miami the scope of foods broadened dramatically. One part of that prism was Brazilian cuisine. While Miami is not a stronghold in North America it was part of the dance. I was familiar with Mr. Idone’s previous book, “Glorious Food”. It helped me during a time when I was running the food not only for a large hotel restaurant but also doing catering menus. His company back then in NYC was famous for that. So I was open to what he had to offer on Brazilian fare. It was an eye opener as the influences on their cuisine are much more African than I’d realized. It is a huge country with a very large population. Their food matrix is as diverse as, say, the entirety of the United States. He wisely is part recipe writer and travel guide in this book. He also smartly provides a very helpful glossary of the raw products that give Brazil its unique personality and flavors. I dove in and soon my menus included dishes like vatapá, moqueca, feijoada, acarajé and xinxim. This is how I have always learned. A mix of sharing time with people from various places and cooking with them, cooking those ‘10,000 hours’ (many more by now!) Malcolm Gladwell wrote so well about in his book, “Outliers; The Story of Success” and by reading, reading, reading.