Acai berry lovers in Brazil for this week’s U.N. climate summit will be in for a surprise when they taste the fruit popular around the world in smoothies and breakfast bowls.

Acai bowls served by local vendors in the COP30 host city of Belem are true to the dish’s rainforest roots – served without sugar.

This traditional preparation has been a tough sell for some visitors used to the frozen and sweetened acai cream sold in other countries and elsewhere in Brazil.

People in the Amazon, where the nutrient-rich berry has been cultivated for centuries, by Indigenous populations, don't treat their acai bowls as a side order or dessert. It is often the main course for any meal of the day. They don’t add granola, fresh fruit or nuts to it. Sugar is forbidden.

Served at room temperature, the traditional dish is a thick liquid prepared from whole berries and a bit of water, typically sprinkled with tapioca flour.

Locals hope that exposing visitors to this original blend will increase awareness about a fruit facing pressure from tariffs and a changing environment.

“The acai coming from Indigenous people is the food when there’s no food. It was never a drink or an extra. It can be the main course for us,” Tainá Marajoara, an activist and owner of a restaurant, told The Associated Press as she wore a colorful Indigenous headdress.

Marajoara’s restaurant at the COP30 pavilion charges 25 Brazilian reais ($5) for a bowl, about the same cost as bowls in other parts of Brazil that use industrially processed and sweetened acai cream.

Many visitors at COP30 struggle to like the Amazon acai because it tastes so different from the preparation they know.

In other parts of Brazil, where bowls and smoothies made from processed acai cream are very popular, adding toppings to an already sweet mix is a must.

The latter version was made popular in the mid-1990s by surfers and jiu-jitsu fighters in Rio de Janeiro and then exported around the world as millions of tourists developed a taste for it.

Even in many parts of Brazil, it can be hard to find unsweetened acai.

Nearly all the acai consumed in the U.S. originates from Brazil, with the state of Para, whose capital is Belem, accounting for 90% of the country’s total production.

Many communities in the Amazon depend on its harvest, which largely goes to the industrialized product.

Prices of acai smoothies look uncertain for American consumers as the product is still subject to a 50% tariff imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on many Brazilian exports.

AP Video shot by Lucas Dumphreys

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