Having lived in this country since she was age 28, Raquel Ott says although she “did not cook when I lived in Brazil,” she has learned since being here. “I watched the Food Network for the longest time and a lot of cooking shows. I still watch several cooking channels. I learn a lot online.” She has even researched and asked her mother about the foods she grew up with. “I am a realtor with Keller Williams and I call myself the Foodie Realtor.”

Raquel recalls memories of family foods dating to the early 1980s. “It’s on weekends, holidays and birthdays and especially at Grandmother Almerida’s house in the country in south Brazil. She was bossy and fierce but she could cook, bake, slaughter pigs, sheep and chickens for all celebrations. She even made homemade dark beer and made the best chicken soup. It was a lot of good simple country cooking,” Raquel remembers.

“She’d cook on a woodstove as some of my relatives still do. Most households have 6-burner stoves and use them all. My g...