Young grilled chicken, corn mush and Italian colonial feasts

In the hills of Serra Gaúcha, Italian immigration reshaped gaucho cuisine. The star is galeto al primo canto — very young chicken, marinated and grilled over charcoal, traditionally served with fried polenta, capeletti soup, pasta and bitter greens like radicci with bacon. It’s so important that galeto is often cited, together with churrasco and arroz carreteiro, as a defining dish of Rio Grande do Sul.