Maré's 16-Restaurant Food Trail Reaches 2026 Culinary Awards Final as Rio Favela Fights Stigma
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Sep 11
Maré's 16-Restaurant Food Trail Reaches 2026 Culinary Awards Final as Rio Favela Fights Stigma
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 11
Summary
Sixteen Maré bars and restaurants will join the month-long Comida de Favela trail from Oct. 1 after the event was named one of four finalists for the 2026 World Culinary Awards' best culinary festival in Latin America.
Redes da Maré says the fourth edition aims to draw visitors into the 140,000-resident favela complex, counter fear and prejudice, and keep money circulating locally through food businesses.
More than 150 applicants competed for the 16 spots, with participants receiving management and marketing training and, for the first time, guidance on supporting customers who report sexual harassment.
Maré's food economy is central to the community: about 1,200 of its roughly 3,200 businesses are restaurants and bars, many reflecting north-eastern Brazilian roots in dishes such as pork-leg burgers, cassava fritters and carne-de-sol pizza.
Organizers acknowledge visitors may still encounter armed traffickers in a place often defined by violence, but say the trail is meant to show Maré as more than that and widen debate over Rio's public security.