Traditional acai berry dish surprises visitors at Brazil Climate Summit

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Some acai berry lovers are heading to Brazil for this week’s event. united nations climate summit You’ll be in for a surprise when you taste this world-favorite fruit in smoothies and breakfast bowls.

Acai bowls from local vendors in Belem – Belem host city 30th United Nations Climate Summitofficially known as COP30, stays true to the dish’s rainforest roots and is served without adulteration or added sugar.

This traditional cooking method was a turnoff for some visitors who were used to the frozen, sweetened acai cream sold in other countries and elsewhere in Brazil.

“I can’t say it’s bad and I fully respect its cultural significance, but I still prefer the ice cream version,” said French visitor Catherine Bernard, 70, as she savored a traditional acai berry bowl in downtown Belém on Thursday.

“You might want to add a little honey and banana,” she adds.

not a dessert

The people of the Amazon, where the nutrient-rich berry has been cultivated by indigenous peoples for centuries, treat acai bowls not as a side order or a dessert.

Often it is the main course of any meal. No granola, fresh fruit or nuts added. Sugar is prohibited. Served at room temperature, this traditional dish is a thick liquid made from whole berries and a little water, usually sprinkled with tapioca flour.

Local residents believe that when visitors come into contact with this original blend, Fruits facing pressure from tariffs and a changing environment.

“For indigenous people, acai is what we eat when we don’t have food. It was never a drink or a side dish. It could be the main course for us,” activist and restaurant owner Taina Marahoala, wearing an indigenous headdress, told The Associated Press.

Pour some of the black liquid into an Amazonian vessel called cuia, traditionally made from gourds and now popular throughout Brazil, Marajoara said acai trees need the protected environment of a rainforest to grow at their best.

“Acai is also the blood of the forest,” she added.

At Marajoara’s restaurant in the COP30 pavilion, a bowl costs 25 Brazilian reals (about $5), about the same as bowls in other parts of Brazil, which are often topped with industrially processed and sweetened acai cream.

This version became popular in the mid-1990s with surfers and jiu-jitsu practitioners in Rio de Janeiro, and has since been exported around the world, with millions of tourists getting a taste of it.

Even in many regions of Brazil, unsweetened acai can be difficult to find. Some Brazilian parents, wanting to give their children the benefits of superfoods without added sugar, seek out stores that sell acai cream without added sweeteners. However, most popular brands only produce sweet versions.

Where does the world’s acai come from?

Almost all the acai consumed in the United States comes from Brazil, with the state of Para, of which Belem is the capital, accounting for 90% of the country’s total production. Many communities in the Amazon depend on their harvest, and a large portion of that harvest is used for industrial products.

The price of acai smoothies may be unclear for U.S. consumers, as they are subject to a 50% tariff imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on many Brazilian exports.

Harvesting acai is physically demanding work, requiring workers known as peconheiros, wearing minimal safety equipment, to climb tall trees, fill baskets with water, and carefully place them into wooden crates.

A crate of acai sells for about $50 in local markets in Brazil, and prices are expected to plummet if sales in the U.S. slow. The United States is by far the largest acai importer of Brazil’s total production, currently estimated at around 70,000 tonnes (63,500 tonnes) per year.

In some coastal areas of the Amazon, where there is little environmental protection, The taste of some acai has changed due to erosion.the salt content increases and the color deteriorates. That’s why people like Marajoara continue to call for not only the provision of original bowls during COP30, but also increased monitoring of local acai trees.

“Acai berries, which belong to our food culture, come from healthy ecosystems in floodplain areas,” she said. “For acai to be healthy, the rainforest needs to be healthy too.”

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