Carioca in California

Are you a Brazilian expat in the US? Me too ❤️

I moved here at 17 and there was not a glimpse of my culture to be found. I tirelessly explained that I didn’t speak Spanish, that I wasn’t European, and that yes, I was born in “the actual Rio.”

16 days after I arrived, 9/11 happened. It wasn’t a good time to be foreign.

I went back and forth to Rio while in college and it was the most agonizing season of my young life. I sat on airplanes with a broken heart more times than I can count. No matter what I did, I was always leaving something behind.

To exist in between two worlds made me grapple with my identity. I was neither here nor there. I felt too American in Brazil, and too Brazilian in the US.

I almost moved back after I graduated, but at that pivotal point, I made the decision to move to California, and to focus on belonging where I had chosen to build a life. Without scheduled school breaks, I stopped going home.

That was 20 years ago.

I took my now husband to Rio in 2007. And that was my last visit until 2023.

Until then, without going home and with so little reference to our culture, I had forgotten where I came from.

After my visit in 2023, I started The Carioca Kitchen to honor my story and share pieces of our culture that do not get widely exported.

Over the last year, I started to make more Brazilian food in my American kitchen.

Over the last six months, I’ve elbowed my way out of my comfort zone, to share anecdotes about being an expat, open a shop, and cook on camera.

Last week I crossed the baby Instagram milestone of 1K.

This project is near and dear to me, but it also matters because our food and our culture matter, and it needs more representation. Bora gente?