Black Gastronomy Prize, whose first edition was held in November, honours the best black restaurant industry people in Rio in an array of categories such as waiter, sommelier, sous chef and pastry chef, all in a country where racism is deeply ingrained
Reis, born and raised in Rio, gives a personal touch to his dishes, using cassava and palm oil, which are basic ingredients in Brazilian and African cooking.
Image: Carl De Souza / AFP
From a tiny restaurant on a dead-end street come the enticing aromas of chicken, pork and shrimp as an award-winning chef slowly steams dim sum -- the finger food typical of Cantonese cuisine.
This is not Hong Kong but rather Rio de Janeiro. And the cook is a black Brazilian.
"Many people ask me, 'Where is the Chinese chef?'" Vladimir Reis, 38, says with a chuckle. He opened Dim Sum Rio almost two years ago in Laranjeiras, a wealthy neighborhood of the city.
"They ask me why I make Asian food and not African or Brazilian food," said Reis. "But I am free to do what I like, without being restricted by what people think I should do because of the color of my skin or the country I come from."
Things are going very well for this burly man with thin dreadlocks down to his shoulders. His dim sums are wildly popular and he has been named a winner in a new competition called the Black Gastronomy Prize.