Sushi from Brazil? The new wave of Latin food coming to the world cuisine aisles

Think of Brazil and a few things will naturally come to mind. Carnival. Samba. Caipirinhas. And… sushi?

Although largely associated with Japan, sushi is big business in Brazil too. In fact, the winner of the 2016 World Sushi Cup was Brazilian chef Celso Hideji Amano.

It’s this kind of less explored South American cuisine that upmarket establishments like Sushisamba and new restaurant and bar Inca London (pictured) are trying to bring to the UK.

Since opening in October 2021, Inca says its Inca Rolls, which are inspired by Brazilian sushi recipes, have been “a great success” with customers.

“Our menu is designed to take the customer on a journey through the continent. So we have quite a lot of popular dishes that customers keep coming back for,” says co-founder Nathaniel Dadou.

Inca’s Argentinian meat and ceviches, “cooked with age-old and cutting-edge techniques”, are also among these dishes.

Such efforts highlight the growing popularity of South American dishes in the UK, catered for by a growing host of high-end restaurants, such as Peruvian eatery Pachamama and trendy Latin American joint Zuaya.

In UK grocery aisles, it’s still very much an emerging trend. Despite South American cuisine being tipped as the next big thing in the Waitrose Food & Drink Report 2014, there remain few specialist products on shelves.

More fertile ground is found among recipe boxes. HelloFresh has a take on the Brazilian Feijoada – a traditional meat stew – among its recipe collection.  Meanwhile, Mindful Chef serves up a Peruvian rice with herby steak.

“We see South American cuisine as an emerging trend, which is definitely growing in popularity on the London food scene,” says Mindful Chef’s ingredients and recipe manager Katy Pigg.

So it may not be long before Brazilian sushi hits the mainstream.