The Brazilian version simmers beans with smoked and dried meats, sausage, and cuts like pig's ears, feet and tails. Feijoada completa is the full spread with rice, kale or collards, orange slices and toasted cassava flour. Depending on the region, restaurants serve it on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays or Sundays.
Brazil's popular story says enslaved Africans invented it from scraps their enslavers threw away. Scholars have questioned that. Iberian kitchens already prized offal, and similar clay-pot stews exist across Europe, from Portuguese cozido to French cassoulet. Food scholar Raul Lody has argued the 'slave food' image idealizes slavery and hides its cruelty. Northern Portugal has its own feijoada, made with white or red beans.
The first known reference is an 1833 newspaper item listing feijoada on a restaurant's Thursday menu. Folklorist Luís da Câmara Cascudo estimated the full feijoada completa entered Brazilian kitchens around 1930.