was rough for the slaves. Deprived of freedom andsometimes of their language and culture, they could be severely punished forsmall misdemeanor, depending on the rigidity of their patrons. Living a lifewith no rest, their only hope was to raise enough money to buy their freedom,sometimes at an exorbitant price. They did so by putting aside part of theprofit they made from the selling of food on the street, a deal previouslyarranged with their masters. Farm slaves could not contemplate this dream dueto the fact that they had no contact with people or currency. In addition to blacks, who could be overwhelming innumber, whites, mestizos, andindigenous were among a multi-ethnic and growing society in Rio de Janeiro.White men could be Brazilian-born or foreigners, most often Portuguese, butalso French, Italian, and German, among other European nationals who came tothe tropics to venture new opportunities. 3. Iconography analysisA Brazilian dinnerAmong the manywatercolors painted by Debret abundantly describing Brazilian food culture inthe 19th century, the only one that portrays a meal is the Brazilian Dinner. The table is set witha number of foods on it. The master of the house is sitting at the tableaccompanied by his wife while three slaves stand around and two nude blackchildren sit on the floor. Thus, table manners may be identified, such as theuse of tableware (very long forks and knives), a wine glass, a water pitcher,individual plates and several platters with food. The atmosphere is relaxed,perhaps a little too casual for the artists European manners, excused by hightemperatures which abandons the goodmanners and neglects the dress code(Debret, 2014, p 166).A number ofitems in the dining room suggest that the family is well-off, such as theirgarments, the furniture, the white tablecloth, as well as the wine glass andplatters on the table. The poor hardly ever had a table, and usually ate on thefloor. If they were to drink an alcoholic beverage, it would be cachaca, a sugarcane spirit. Likewise,they would not have a tablecloth and ate most often ate with their hands, habits thatremind those of European peasants in the Middle Ages (Laurioux, 2002). The descriptionthe artist wrote accompanying the watercolor is equally insightful. In it, Debretexpresses his disgust when compares one of the children, who is being fed bythe housewife, to a dog, which has been repeatedly painted by European artistsfrom the Middle to the Modern Ages (...lafemme samuse de ses petits negrillons, qui remplace la famille presque eteintede petits chiens carlins en Europe, p. 166).The differencesbetween the meals of higher and lower classes are also present in hisdescription, mainly concerning the variety of food. The meal of the familyconsisted of several dishes, including a breaded soup (whose recipe remindsthat of the famed Parisian soupe restaurante),boiled meats, a shrimp coulis,chicken rice, cooked vegetables, a roast, and a pile of oranges. This couldhave been a meal in any European country if not for two items, namely the escaldado and the chili sauce. Theformer is manioc meal plunged with hot stock while the latter is made with malagueta (bird-eye) chili and vinegar. As a goodFrenchman, Debret observes that there is no