SAUCY TOINHA, 13min, Brazil, Documentary

Directed by Sérgio Bloch

That Toinha is not just any Bahian, this is evident to those who see her, for the first time, behind her board. What many do not even suspect is that she is the one who makes the palm oil that she uses to prepare her delicacy. She climbs the coconut tree, drops the bunch, cooks the coconuts, macerates in the pestle, and when everything turns into a paste, she separates the liquid from the bagasse in a long manual process. Then it boils the palm again and only then does the oil appear, like a blade, over the water. At night she will serve the dumplings generously stuffed and packed in a banana leaf, which Toinha takes off her feet and prepares over the fire. The business takes a lot of work, but who cares? – “My acarajé has to be perfect. That’s why I do the male and female frills ”- she says proudly.