Vatapa (1939)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Vatapa is a Brazilian fish stew.  It is not recorded by OED or by Merriam-Webster.  Fortunately, the NEW YORK TIMES recorded it in detail (in the second article below) during the 1939 World's Fair.


   16 June 1939, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 8:
   Brazil presents its claims with canja, a chicken broth with rice; vatapa, a fish dish cooked in palm oil, and what many consider to be the finest coffee in the world.

   2 July 1939, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. D7:
   Vatapa, a delicious fish dish, is one of the specialties of Antonion Tamos.  It takes all morning to prepare vatapa for lunch in Brazil, but down there they use wood fires.  In the World of Tomorrow vatapa is prepared in an hour and a half.
   The ingredients the chef gathers together for the dish are a pound of boneless and skinless halibut, two pounds of fresh shrimps, two grated coconuts, a cup of roasted and crushed peanuts, twelve ounces of dried shrimps that have been peeled, toasted, and crushed, and two tablespoons of African oil.