One of the most common fast food items in Brazil is known as pastel, a deep-fried, stuffed pastry. This half-circle or rectangle-shaped miniature pie is stuffed with a variety of ingredients, most commonly shredded chicken, ground beef, mozzarella, or small shrimps.

Sweet varieties also exist, and they are usually made with chocolate, bananas, or guava jam, but they are not as common as their savory counterparts. The exact origin of the dish is not familiar, but it is believed that pastel evolved from the Chinese spring roll, which was brought to Brazil by Japanese immigrants. 

Sagu is an unusual Brazilian alcohol-infused dessert made with cassava, one of the oldest starch sources found in South America. This sweet concoction is made with tapioca pearls – round-shaped, chewy ingredients gained from tapioca starch.

To prepare sagu, the pearls are cooked in wine until all of the liquid is absorbed and the pearls turn dark red. Occasionally, wine is mixed with an equal amount of grape juice, which makes this interesting dessert sweeter and less alcoholic. The wine is usually infused with cinnamon and cloves in order to add extra flavor to the dish.

Most commonly, sagu is consumed plain and served in individual portions. 

Churrasco is a Brazilian barbecue method where juicy pieces, slices, steaks, and chops of beef, veal, lamb, pork, and chicken are placed on big skewers and grilled over wood fire. It started in the early 1800s when the Gauchos (European immigrants that settled in the Rio Grade do Sul area) would get together and start a fire, adding large portions of meat on skewers and slowly grilling the meat.

In the restaurants, known as churrascarias, the skewers are paraded across the restaurant in a flashy manner, and the waiters circulate among the tables in order to show off the succulent meat to hungry diners. After the customers have chosen their preferred type of meat, it is sliced off the skewers to the dining plates. 

One of the best summer desserts in the world, according to a Miami Herald edition from 2009, créme de papaya consists of papaya fruit, ice cream, milk, and crème de cassis liqueur, typically served in a shallow bowl or glass.

Mint leaves are commonly used as garnishes. This dessert reached the peak of its popularity in the mid-1990s, but its fame has somewhat diminished since those times. Créme de papaya is both easy to make at home and a popular dessert on the menus of numerous Brazilian restaurants.