Colorful fabrics, colorful clothes, colorful food – everything is joyful at Louise’s stall in the gastronomic fair of immigrants and refugees where she serves her Cornshaft, a typical stew from Cameroon. Having been in Brazil for six years, she came here in search of a better life after being rejected by her husband’s family, who had suffered a stroke. She says that when it comes to gastronomy and food, she feels at home in Brazil. “Everything I need, everything I had in Africa, I can find here,” she says. But she brought the “axé” (energy) from there to her cooking. She prepares Cornshaft, a stew made with white beans, red beans, white corn, spices, palm oil, garlic, and ginger, along with side dishes of local meat, free-range chicken, fried banana balls, and cooked vegetables. The preparation is just like in Southwest Cameroon, where she comes from. And it seems she has no intention of going back. “I want to stay in Brazil,” she says.