Rio Market is a Brazilian supermarket in the “Little Brazil” section of Astoria, Queens that has become an unofficial center for NYC’s Brazilian community.
Rio Market is the biggest market of Brazilian products outside of Brazil. It’s a place where you can get pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread), polvilho (tapioca flour), real Brazilian cuts for churrasco (Barbecue), and Havaiana flip-flops. You can get Brazilian cheese, coffee, cookies, and the cleaning products we use at home.
The television always plays Brazilian soccer or news. Rio Market has a cafeteria that serves the national dish feijoada (stew meats with beans) on Saturdays. There is a gift shop and a money transfer service. You can get jerseys for your favorite Brazilian soccer teams and air travel tickets to Brazil.
It’s all in Portuguese or English as you wish. It’s a little it of home, and a cure for saudade.
Delivery
Rio Market delivers too. For $10 you can get delivery to Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside, and Jackson Heights. You can even get deliveries to Manhattan between 1st and 110th St with a minimum order of $60.
Non-perishable items can be shipped by Fedex or UPS for $10 plus the cost of shipping.
You can order delivery by phone.
Saudade
“Saudade” is one of those Latin words that has a world of meaning in one word. There is no direct translation and Brazilians say you could never understand it. But saudade is a feeling of deep longing. It’s missing your family and loved ones when you are thousands of miles away and might never see them again.
Saudade is a feeling the Portuguese experienced when they sailed across the world in tiny wooden boats. Brazil is a huge country, so saudade is something we experience when we work far from home in the big city.
Visiting Rio Market
Rio Market
32-15 36th Avenue
Astoria, NY 11106
(718) 706-7272
Daily 8am-9pm
(N) (W) to 36th Avenue
The store has many more products than are shown online. To order online, visit www.riosupermarket.com