Along with these influences, modern Carioca cuisine also incorporates indigenous seasonings and recipes, mixed in with both ancient African preparations and traditional Portuguese culinary traditions. The result is the betterment of conventional recipes and the creation of a wide variety of new and unique dishes, with a strong European influence.

Indigenous influence contributed many fruits, seeds, and nuts such as the cashew, cassava, taro, tamarind, cherry, palm, jaboticaba, jambo, and the sapodilla. Africans were in charge of cooking in colonial Brazil, and they introduced beans, the most typical national dishes, cayenne, olive oil-palm, the dried shrimp, yams, okra, and various herbs used for flavouring - some of these original african recipes are still prepared during important local commemorations, such as Zumbi dos Palmares day.