Alex Eliscu

In the heart of Brazil’s endangered Pantanal region, a caiman breeding and production facility has quietly taken a leading foothold in the exotic meats market. Sitting on just over 150-hectares of land in Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, Caimasul is officially the world’s largest caiman meat farm: currently, it houses more than 60,000 of these reptiles and exports over two tons of meat per month. However, their success in the meat market has been shrouded in controversy. Founded in 2017,...

I am a California native who has been living in Brazil on and off since 2022 (I first arrived in Brazil in 2011, when I lived in Rio de Janeiro for several months researching the favela communities and their pulse in the city). Born in San Diego and raised in Los Angeles, I have spent most of my career in the Brazilian Specialty Coffee industry and am an associate for Aquarela Coffee in Los Angeles, CA. More recently, I have started working in farm and wildlife ecology, bringing me to...