The Folklore Festival of Parintins in Amazonas and the cuisine of Pará have gained prominence in the event “Visit Brasil – Amazon Gallery,” which took place in New York in September. This initiative, a partnership between Embratur and Sebrae, showcased the diversity, cultural and ancestral richness, and flavors of the Amazon region to Americans.
The president of Embratur, Marcelo Freixo, emphasized that the initiative is part of the plan to preserve the Amazon, where tourism is essential for generating jobs and income in the region.
“More than 60% of the Amazon is in Brazil. The forest is a heritage of humanity, and the preservation of it is crucial for life on our planet. The Amazon represents preservation, and it needs to be preserved. This means creating and producing a new development model that keeps the forest standing and its people thriving. Tourism is a powerful tool for this,” Freixo noted.
“The Visit Brasil Gallery in New York is an initiative to showcase to the world the immense cultural wealth of the people living in the forest, including our cuisine, handicrafts, visual arts, traditional knowledge, and many possibilities that demonstrate that sustainable tourism is essential for keeping the forest standing,” the president of Embratur added.
Flavors
The cooking shows at the “Visit Brasil – Amazon Gallery” highlighted the flavors of the region. One of the chefs at the event, Débora Shornik, treated visitors to unique tastes of Amazonian cuisine: yanomami mushroom broth with pirarucu belly bacon, pickled water lily, and tucupi.
Fashion
Sustainable fashion, along with bioeconomy, is also an important pillar for promoting tourism in the Amazon. Indigenous designer Maurício Duarte from the Kaixana people in Amazonas attended the event, praised the initiative, and discussed how fashion and tourism complement each other.
“I feel that more spaces like this are necessary, where more people who are truly at the grassroots level—not just at the end of the supply chain, but at the beginning—can engage. It’s essential for people to understand not only the beauty we have in the Amazon or any other region of Brazil but also the challenges. You can’t talk about fashion without discussing bioeconomy, biotechnology, circular economy, and sustainability in practice,” he noted.
Recently, Maurício Duarte’s brand, which embodies Brazilian culture, participated in the New York Fashion Week runway shows.
Source: Embratur