home to a rich selection of native dishes, and unfamiliar cuisine, rio de janeiro often manages to surprise its visitors with popular delicacies which are rarely found in other parts of the world - one of the most curious accompaniments, often found on the carioca menu, is the popular side dish farofa.

used mainly as a complement to meat, farofa is a dish made from toasted farinha de mandioca, which is a particularly course and slightly yellow manioc flour, with less starch than alternative manioc flours, such as tapioca - to complete the dish, numerous other ingredients are added to farofa such as bacon, onions, eggs, or vegetables, depending on the chef and the recipe.