Meanings
plural vatapás
- An Afro-Brazilian dish made with bread, shrimp, coconut milk, peanuts and palm oil mashed into a creamy paste.
Overstuffed, inevitably, with vatapá, a creamy paste flavored with seafood and nuts; caruru de quiabo, an onion-and-ginger-laced okra gumbo; and bacalao salad. It’s a taste of Brazilian summer, down to the last licked finger.
2011 January 11, Dave Cook, “Point Brazil”, in The New York Times
Origin
- Yorubaẹ̀bà Tápà“pirão thickened in the style of the Nupe people”
- Brazilian Portuguesevatapá
- Englishvatapá
Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese vatapá, from Yoruba ẹ̀bà Tápà (“pirão thickened in the style of the Nupe people”).
More words from Brazilian Portuguese, Yoruba
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
vatapá. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vatap%C3%A1
“vatapá.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vatap%C3%A1. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vatapá,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vatap%C3%A1.
Source: vatapá on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.