The recipe for the classic “delicious bread”, one of the most beloved delicacies of Bahians – after all, no one eats acarajé for breakfast (right?) – has become an indigestible dispute between two families. And it ended up in court, as reported by journalist Ronaldo Jacobina.
On one side, Elibia Portela; on the other, the family of Laila Abboud, a respected and renowned cook in Salvador (Laila is now deceased).
The harmless sweet bread, with soft dough, sprinkled with parmesan on top (in Rio it’s like that and there are houses specializing in bread) omnipresent on the Bahian table, turned bad after the publication of the book “The story behind the creation of Pão Delícia” which was barely released by the Abboud family and which has already caused a lot of noise.
In the work, the authorship of the recipe is attributed to the matriarch Laila. And that’s when Elibia Portela, a confectioner for 50 years, protested: “she learned the recipe from me, she took my classes”, accuses the confectioner, who immediately filed a complaint to prohibit the work. “All of Bahia knows that it was me who created a delicious bread. It is even registered with the INPI,” he says.
This controversy comes at a time when delicious bread is on the verge of becoming Bahia’s intangible heritage.
The history of this delicacy is curious, it would have been the result of an error: the bread dough became sticky from lack of flour and then found itself in the oven to cook, receiving knobs of butter and a cloud of grated cheese. But what error? The bun, and it’s not even cake, it’s this one.
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