The stadiums of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil are all different, constructed to reflect the region. Natal's arena has a wavy beach dune style, while the stadium in Manaus looks like a woven basket.
Inside those stadiums, however, you'd never know you're in Brazil. Budweiser is an official beer seller and Coke has the soda market cornered. Other menu items include hot dogs, cheeseburgers and turkey sandwiches. It's almost impossible to find any Brazilian fare on the menu.
FIFA puts on the World Cup and is often criticized for lavishness and the high cost of staging the games, not to mention what's seen as its unwillingness to compromise, especially when protecting sponsors. But then, FIFA met Rita Santos and her passion.
On any given day, she and her friends are in a lovely part of Salvador called the Pelourinho, making the popular street food, acaraje. She uses a large spoon to mash up beans, onions and salt to create a dough ball which gets deep fried. Then it's sliced in half, slathered with a spicy pepper sauce and cashew paste and topped with shrimp.
Acaraje was first brought to Brazil centuries ago by African slaves. Today it's almost exclusively made by women known as baianas, who wear flowing, all-white cotton dresses and headscarves.
For 60 years, the baianas sold acaraje at the old soccer stadium. So when FIFA told the women they couldn't sell acaraje within a mile of the new World Cup arena on game days, that didn't go over so well. Santos blames the Brazilian government for not standing up to FIFA.
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