It follows the daily lives of three families dealing with food insecurity in Fortaleza, the state capital of Ceará in the northeastern part of Brazil, over a few weeks in order to study hunger not merely from a macroscopic perspective but rather from the perspective of those who live with it.

"Garapa" refers to sugar water given to children to tide them over in times of hunger.

It then played at the Tribeca Film Festival on 25 April 2009[1] before its theatrical release in Brazil on 15 May 2009.

Lidz-Ama Appiah of CNN wrote that "the film is a powerful illustration of the impact of chronic starvation.

"[2] Kirk Honeycutt of the Associated Press criticized the film's lack of background information about and discussion with its subjects, writing that "the film simply shows the families getting through the day without any concern for filling the audience in on their pasts, their relationships or what they think about their dire conditions.