20 years of gastronomic stories and connections

Everyone wears a dolman, that chef’s clothing. Sitting down, waiting for the dinner that our teammates are preparing, crowded together in the kitchen to taste the flavors to come and guess at this and that recipe, or profiled for the photo, like a different football team. All in white and talking non-stop until dinner starts to be served. At all times, in the mouth (even when full), a single theme: gastronomy It is this taste for cooking and, above all, eating well, which has kept Confraria do Armazém alive for two decades.

The Curitiba group meets monthly to cook and eat. In all 240 meetings, the confreres themselves took charge of the pots and were responsible for preparing dinner, which was always served on a plate.

In the kitchen and lounge, only men. I was the fourth woman, over the 20-year history of the Confraria do Armazém, to participate in a dinner. Before me: chef Manu Buffara, gastronomy journalist Jussara Voss and Head da Pinó, at the time editor of Bom Gourmet, Andrea Sorgenfrei – invited to record the dynamics of the group in 2010. As you can see, reader, I am part of a select group – an honor.

Some members say that one day this will change and this story of “little ball club” ends. Fair. But, seeing the glass as half full, it’s curious to have a club of friends that get together for something other than playing cards or football, typical of the male universe.

Perhaps the fact that the founders of the Confraria were linked to the football world has contributed to this. Certainly, they realized in the chemical magic of gastronomy and in the search for flavor combinations, the necessary escape for the mind tired of ball disputes, cards and top hats in everyday life.

It was one day in 2003, during his morning walk, that the then president of Athletico Paranaense, Marcos Coelho, thought about the possibility of the confraternity. He wanted something similar to Amigos de Babette, in São Paulo-the oldest in Brazil.

He spoke with his friend and sports commentator Carneiro Neto. They held the first meeting. At the meeting, another sports journalist, Luiz Auguto Xavier, now a columnist for Bom Gourmet and current president of Confraria o Armazém, as well as publicist Ernani Buchmann and businessman Antônio Ortiz.

“From the beginning, the focus was on cooking. The idea was to make everyone take their knowledge and share it with others”, says Coelho.

Therefore, the logic of championships and organization of football clubs was taken to the confraternity. Confraria dinners are always prepared by a quartet. In the beginning, this team was defined by lot. The names were divided by the level of gastronomic knowledge of each one. In order to keep the game balanced, with a more experienced player sharing pots with a beginner.

Over time, the rule changed. Participation became voluntary. But, in all teams, the joker element, which provides technical support to the group, remains. This role is played by chef Maurício Fontana. Since 2011, he has helped the confreres with pre-preparations and given the technical support needed to make the service flow. “I’m the fifth member of all the groups”, he jokes.

And, like a good football club, Confraria do Armazém has its own headquarters. It is at the Brazilian Association of Sommeliers (ABS). But, for almost a decade, the pots and pans were used in the kitchen and living room of the former Armazém São Miguel, in Rebouças, and hence the name Confraria do Armazém.

Finally, there is the brotherhood’s own uniform. The dolman, which caught my attention so much. To get the team’s shirt, the candidate must be assiduous to the meetings. Some also have to pass a test by fire: a few months in the preparation of desserts. A member of the Confraria do Armazém since 2011, chef Dudu Sperandio, for example, stayed in the role for nine months before being officially integrated into the group.

Once a partner, always a partner

The Confraria do Armazém today has just over 20 active members. I say active because it works almost like in the army: once a member, always a member. In this way, on special occasions – such as the Confraria’s 20th anniversary – everyone is invited to wear a dolman and participate in the meeting.

It was like this on the night of March 27th, at the dinner I had the honor of attending. Separated from the group for some time, that day, 16 confreres from the reserve took their dolmans out of the cupboard and went to meet their friends at the Ernesto restaurant in Sperandio. The special night required a space larger than the headquarters at ABS.

And so, 38 men got together on a Monday night to talk food and tell stories.

On Onions, Knives, Cheese, and Connections

“Do you remember how you taught me how to cut onions? You have to do a jaguar claw. I never forgot”, comments the doctor Lúcio Ernlund in a conversation in the corner of the table, already at dessert time, with the dentist and former colleague José Aristides.

Earlier, the kitchen was a hustle and bustle. At any given moment, I counted about 15 people among the stoves, plates, ovens and ingredients in Ernesto’s kitchen. All with an eye on what the team formed by journalist Cláudio Stringari, engineer Neander Pereira and cooks Alexandre Vicki, Breno Rosa and Maurício Fontana prepared.

And all of them are also very interested in trying the Croqueta de Termite, served as an aperitif. Then, in the lounge, came the starters: steak tartare and codfish terrine with plantain and coalho cheese.

For main course, pear and mignon risotto in red wine reduction with chicken liver pâté. was meant to be Foie gras, but the market is complicated – and that was the topic for a debate at the table. Dessert, a rosewater ice cream with pistachio crunch, was served in delicate little pots, reminiscent of flower vases. I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation and flavors.

At the end, applause, stories, laughter and the clink of cutlery in glasses. It’s time for the speeches. First president of the Confraria, Marcos Coelho was called to speak. Host of the evening, Sperandio also spoke. And I could see a few tears here and there, between one emotional word and another.

In the end, what I understand is that everything is about exchanges – the most diverse. In the hustle and bustle for the group photo, I see a packet of cheese pass from one confrere’s hand to another. “I brought it for you from the trip. This cheese is very good, I’m sure you’ll like it”, he says.

As they say, gastronomy is the biggest social network that exists. And the Confraria is an example of the connections that this network is capable of making and maintaining.