Acarajé Baiana Sailor Editorial Photo

Acarajé sold on the street in Brazil are variously made with fried beef, mutton, dried shrimp, pigweed, fufu osun sauce, and coconut. nnToday in Bahia, Brazil, most street vendors who serve acarajé are women, easily recognizable by their all-white cotton dresses and headscarves and caps. nnThey first appeared in Bahia selling acarajé in the 19th century. Earnings from the sale of acarajé were used both to buy the freedom of enslaved family members until the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888; its sale additionally served as a source of family income.nnThe city now has more than 500 acarajé vendors. The image of these women, often simply called baianas, frequently appears in artwork from the region of Bahia.nnAcarajé, however, is available outside of the state of Bahia as well, including the streets of its neighborboring state of Sergipe, and the markets of Rio de Janeiro.