History of the guides
The first guide, published in 2016, stemmed from the question, "Is there good food in São Paulo's 'quebradas'?" and served as a counterpoint to traditional newspaper gastronomic guides, which only map places to eat in the city center and wealthier neighborhoods. Right away, the young participants of Prato Firmeza (PF) mapped 40 places to eat in the São Paulo outskirts, valuing those who drive the local food culture. The publication was nominated for the Jabuti 2016 award.
In 2017, the second edition deepened its focus on food made with fresh ingredients, shedding light on the so-called “food deserts” (where you have to travel more than 6 kilometers to find fresh food) and on the lack of access to "real food." This edition, which featured a foreword by chef Rodrigo Oliveira, owner of the restaurants Mocotó (in Vila Medeiros) and Balaio (on Avenida Paulista), resulted in a websérie published in Folha de S. Paulo.
In 2019, Volume 3 placed food at the center of leisure and family togetherness in the peripheries of São Paulo, and it took to the streets and gastronomic events, being distributed at the Festival Arte na Rua (in the Bixiga neighborhood) and the eighteenth edition of Feira Preta, at the Memorial da América Latina.
In 2020, the Prato Firmeza Pretowas born, dedicated to mapping Black entrepreneurs and decolonizing the imagination anchored in racism, which places Black people in the kitchen and white people as chefs. Made by a team that was more than 90% Black, it won the Prêmio Jabuti Award in Creative Economy.
That same year, the production methodology for Prato Firmeza was systematized in the PF Methodological Guide (available here on the website), to make the mapping of services in peripheral territories accessible in any corner of Brazil.
Putting the methodological guide into practice, in 2021, Prato Firmeza expanded to Rio de Janeiro, produced in partnership with data_labe (a group of favelas in Maré – RJ) e Decodifica (ex- Lab Jaca), It mapped good food in the Jacarezinho and Manguinhos favelas. PF in Rio showed that favelas are much more than violence: they have good food, culture, and ancestry – despite the guide being produced in the midst of a massacre that killed 30 people in May 2020.
In 2022, it was time to explore the Geek universe, in an edition aimed mainly at adolescents, placing nerd culture as a gastronomic identity in the peripheries and being produced entirely in comic book language.
Prato Firmeza became national in 2023, with the Campo&Cidade (Country&City) edition, which connected peripheral communication organizations in 10 capitals, across the 5 regions of Brazil, to map the path of food from the countryside to the tables of peripheral restaurants. With a foreword by Ana Chã, from the MST culture collective, this volume is a political manifesto for the right to healthy food and received the Prêmio Sebrae de Jornalismo São Paulo, in the podcast category, in addition to being a finalist for the Jabuti Award in 2025.
The national version of Pratinho, a PF edition for children, was launched in 2024. It discusses food in public schools that value local producers and regional food culture in different states. The guide includes the Food Game (an enclosed board game), a vídeo that teaches how to create a school garden, and a pedagogical suggestion to be applied in classrooms for Early Childhood, Elementary, and High School education (all available with the edition on this website).
The Prato Firmeza Amazônia, launched in 2025, revives the traditional roots of Brazilian food from the states of Pará and Amazonas. Produced in partnership with Tapajós de Fato, Puxirum do Bem Viver, it features terms translated into 9 indigenous languages, a podcast in partnership with the podcast Pavulagem, and maps restaurants, ingredients, and food masters.
