The day starts with a reinforced and delicious breakfast. The breakfast served in Manaus is much more than a simple morning coffee. It provides energy for many hours of activity.
Fruit juices, tucumã, pupunha, yucca cake, tapioca, banana porridge, mungunzá (white corn porridge), pamonha (corn cake) and so many other treats, which besides being tasty, are highly nutritious. After such a true gastronomic experience, it is advisable to go sight seeing or to go for a good walk.
Lunch time is an opportunity to experiment the seasonings of the regional kitchen. Whether roasted in charcoal, boiled or fried, fish is a must in the cuisine you will find in Manaus: tambaqui, matrinxã, jaraqui, sardine, pacu, pirarucu and tucunaré.
There are more than two thousand species of fish in the region, each one with more than special taste, very much appreciated by the local population, and visitors alike.
If you can wake up early, you could pay a visit to the Fish Market, by the River Negro (movie).
There is a regional popular saying that goes more or less like this: "Once you try jaraqui, you will no longer leave here"("Comeu jaraqui, não sai mais daqui"). There must be some truth in it indeed, considering the growing number of people coming from another states and countries to visit Manaus.
The secret is in the preparation of the fresh fish with: salt, lemon, cheiro verde (parsley, cilantro and green onion) and the traditional tucupi sauce (yellowish in color) made from the juice of the wild yucca, prepared through a fermentation process and cooking that takes several days.
As a side dish, farinha do Uarini (Uurini flour) or farinha d'água , both made from the manioc. The later has to be preferably eaten without chewing since it is very resistant, mixed to the fish sauce and pepper to taste.
There are several varieties of peppers (the murupi, the malagueta, the sweet ones, among others) with several and delicious flavors and aromas. Delicious juices and desserts prepared with such regional fruits as cupuacu, açai, graviola, buriti, araça, camu-camu, tapereba, abacaba, give the final touch to the taste (notice that most of these fruits are not found anywhere else in Brazil; the acai, which gained World popularity recently, has been consumed in Manaus for decades).
At the end of the day it is time for tacacá, kind of soup served in cuias (curds), prepared with tucupi, dry shrimp, yucca gum and jambu leaves, a herb with peculiar flavor that makes the lips quiver. But there is still the açai served in curds and tapioca flour, fried banana and other specialties of Amazonas cuisine, that deserves to be enjoyed.