Luton has long been a multicultural melting pot, but now there’s a new flavour in the mix.
The spirit of Latin America has arrived at the Luton Indoor Market in the form of Comida Brasil, a new cafe serving authentic Brazilian fare.
Decked out in bright yellow and green, the cafe is run by Paul Fulton and his partner Cristina Mendes, who provides the ‘authentic’ part of the operation.
Hailing from Goiania, a city in central Brazil around 100 miles from the capital, Brazilia, Cristina came to the UK 10 years ago, intending to learn English and return to her home country to teach.
She decided to stay after meeting Paul, from Bedford. He gave up his job as a recruitment consultant to launch the business with Cristina after their friends suggested she cook for a living.
“English friends always wanted to come and eat at our house,” she said. “They said, ‘Why don’t you open a restaurant, there is nothing like this around here’.”
They settled on Luton after efforts to secure stalls in Bedford and St Albans proved fruitless. “We came to the indoor market to see what was available, and decided to go for it,” said Paul, who had previously worked in catering and hotel management.
Now there’s a steady stream of hungry customers lining up for a menu of classics passed down from generation to generation.
“This is the kind of food we learn from our mothers and our sisters,” said Cristina, who was the youngest of eight children. “You will find all of these dishes in Brazil, and it is a big country so there are lots of variations.
“The ingredients are things that people will recognise, it’s just that they are prepared differently.”
For the uninitiated, the Brazilian national dish is feijoada – stewed pork and black beans. Also on the menu at Comida Brasil is galinhada (turmeric chicken), vaca atolada (spicy beef and cassava) and moqueca de peixe (Brazilian fish stew). Always bubbling away is a batch of hearty sopa do Brasil, a soup thick with chicken and vegetables, and starters include little empadinha (baked chicken pastries).
Paul added: “We’ve got people coming from all over, from St Albans, from Ampthill. People come in who’ve eaten Brazilian food in London and they say it’s much better here.”