Street Cart · Cassava Crepe

Tapioca (Beiju)

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Tapioca crepes are older than Brazil itself — Tupi-Guarani communities were cooking cassava starch this way long before Portuguese ships ever arrived.

Tapioca is a thin, chewy crepe made by sieving hydrated cassava (manioc) starch directly into a hot skillet, where the granules fuse into a flexible disc within seconds. Street carts across northeastern Brazil griddle it to order and fold it around fillings like grated coconut, condensed milk, cheese, or shredded meat.

Why it's made this way: Long before European colonization, Tupi-Guarani communities were processing cassava into starch for beiju, making it one of the oldest continuously eaten street foods in the Americas — the city of Olinda even declared it a protected piece of cultural heritage in 2006.