Bacalao Reminds Me Of

In my Emerging Markets MBA class I often used to teach a class that profiled a number of successful Brazilian companies.  A few years back one my Brazilian students brought to my attention that one of the companies, Obredecht was involved in enormous scandal, Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato) involving former President’s Lula, Dilma and many companies, notably among them: Obredecht.  So when the cab dropped us off at an imposing tower for our first meeting, that the building was Obredecht Tower, I took notice.

The next meeting was with a fascinating legal start up.  I hadn’t realized that Brazil apparently has more lawyers than any other country and this afforded this dynamic, young CEO a chance to launch a distinct, industry service model.  Touring his office, he explained that he was committed to hiring people from different ethnicities, gender and class background and that, given that many people who worked for him had never seen a museum, he had lined the walls of the company with remarkable, domestic artwork. 

Graciously, he later took us to what he’d gushed would be a remarkable Brazilian meal.  The restaurant though, was closed for lunch and he pivoted quickly and asked if we liked sea food.  Todo Bem.  Soon we were up and into a classy restaurant which he explained was a local feature in town, having been here for many years. 

Cod’s a rather plain word.  But I like the salty associations in my mind.  Bacalao reminds me of many things, like the Puerto Rican salsa star Hector Lavoe who has same titled song and the big sheets of bacalao one could buy back in the Mission in San Francisco, which you needed to soak for a time before preparing.  “I’ll have the Bacalao.”  So did my host.  We tried one and then another Brazilian white wine, and talked about his remarkable family background from Syria and Germany and Portugal.  We were the last ones to leave the lunch shift and all I could think of after this was nap I was going to insist upon taking, once we’d walked the few blocks back up to our hotel.

Tuesday, 3/26/19