Helen eats the world part 2 - Central America

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I had planned on doing a food blog for each country we visited but after Mexico I found it hard to get excited about the food of the rest of the countries in Central America. Now that we have reached Peru my senses have been re-awakened and I have been inspired to write about my favourite subject again. So as not to be unfair to Central America I will dig deep into my food bank memory and dig out the best bits.

Fruit

To start with the positive, the best thing about Central America is the fresh fruit. Waking up to fresh pineapple, papaya and mango is a good way to start the day and you can’t beat a wedge of juicy watermelon as a quick snack. All of these fruits are pricy to get fresh in the UK so it feels like an indulgence.

Guatemala

We started in Guatemala where we were to get used to a diet of mostly rice and beans and where I was to start to put on a lot of weight. Many of the hostels we stayed in either did a US inspired breakfast of pancakes which is not something I’m used to eating at home or the ‘tipico’. The tipico is a meal that is common throughout Guatemala and is eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is delicious and if you have to do a lot of trekking is a great start to the day. It consists of frijoles (refried beans), huevos rancheros, (scrambled eggs), aguacate (avocado) and cream. For me, breakfast is usually my healthiest meal of the day so this came as a bit of a shock to the system.

Coffee

It is possible to get amazing coffee in central America but considering how much is grown here, a lot of it is exported so you have to check before you order if you are going to get a cup of instant Nescafe or a decent coffee. We were lucky in the lovely town of El Remate to get a steaming mug of thick dark coffee with a slight sweet taste to kick start our day. It was so strong that it ended up giving me funny dreams.

Chocolate

The other thing that is grown on lots of plantations is chocolate. We were lucky to be given a free tour of a small plantation we were staying on and learnt loads about how the beans are harvested. Again most of these are exported to Northern Europe and North America to be made into the chocolate we know and love. You can visit the Choco Museo which is a chain through Central and South America where they have some great dark chocolate and hot drinking chocolate. Strangely enough now that Cadburys has been bought out by a US company it is available everywhere but it does not travel well in hot countries.

The basics

The majority of our diet throughout the region consisted of a dinner of chicken (fried or grilled) served with rice, beans, and plantains in various forms. These can be fried and served dry with chilli sauce, or fried in sugar to make them sweet. Travelling on a budget meant that we ate this meal a lot in basic comedors. This could sometimes be the front of someones house that they have opened up onto the street where they cook up huge batches and you sit on plastic tables and chairs.

There are also a lot of fried chicken shops. I have never been the biggest fan of fried chicken so I tried to stay away. When we did visit the Guatemalan based Pollo Campero I was rewarded with four days of food poisoning.

El Salvador

Arriving in El Salvador seemed promising as we headed to a town that has a weekly food festival in its main square. It wasn’t the best quality food but did offer up lots of variety with different meats and huge prawns on sticks, they even had frogs.

The rest of El Salvador was a bit disappointing with a huge U.S. fast food influence. I had my first experience of Taco Bell which is possibly the worst thing I have ever eaten. I’m not even sure if it’s real food. With a bigger budget to spend you could find great restaurants in all of these places but on a traveller budget you are limited to pupusas; these are corn based parcels stuffed with various fillings which I have been told are delicious.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua was the best place for food. Partly because everything is cheaper so you have more options. The food here focussed less on frying everything and more about making the most of the ingredients.

The country is divided into its two coasts. We spent some time on the Corn Islands on the Caribbean side where everything is based around coconuts and lobster. We were lucky to have a fantastic cook in our hostel who made us chicken marinated in coconut and lobster with a tomato and coconut sauce. One of my favourite things to eat daily was fresh coconut bread, if I timed it right we could get it straight from the oven. We also made friends with the local patty man who would walk around the island selling hot and spicy patties.

We also met a rather drunk lobster fisherman on his day off who told us about the Sunday ‘rundon’. On the island everyone traditionally has Sunday and Monday as their days off so everyone gets together to cook a big stew and drink beer. The stew is cooked in a big pot with a coconut milk base and various types of meat are cooked in it, including lobster and we were told, turtle meat. It is common in Nicaragua for people to eat turtle, particularly the eggs which are sold in most local markets. This came as a surprise to start with until we found out that cock fighting is also still common and Steve saw someone watching a dog fighting dvd.

The pacific coast is back to the staple of rice and beans, this time cooked up together to form Gallo Pinto which is eaten traditionally for breakfast. We did have a great stew in the market in Masaya which is called Baho. Baho is slow cooked, tender beef with yukka and plantain; very yummy but very rich and quite sweet.

A common street food which is sold in bags on buses are plantain chips with shredded cabbage and are surprisingly tasty. Sometimes as a bonus the chips would come with a wedge of cheese. We tried this first at a baseball match on the Corn Islands with half a fried chicken on the top.

Alcohol

My drink whilst we were here was the super smooth Flor de cana rum. This is normally expensive to buy in other countries but as it is produced here it is dirt cheap. There are various ages and it comes in light and dark, my favourite was the 7 year old dark. It has a delicious flavour which is great as it is easy to drink but this did lead to some nasty hangovers.

I’m not a beer drinker but Steve was a big fan of the Tona in Nicaragua which was between fifty cents and a dollar, with Gallo in Guatemala coming a close second.

Costa Rica and Panama

As Costa Rica was incredibly expensive we spent most of our time cooking in hostels so cannot really comment on the food.

Casco Viejo in Panama city was a nice surprise as it was very cosmopolitan. It was here that we splashed out on a lovely meal in a fusion restaurant called Tantolo. Here we dined on gorgeous red wine, a posh mixed grill, steamed seabass and a chocolate brownie martini. Yum, yum, yum. We also visited the fish market for some super fresh ceviche. This dish actually originates from South America so I’m sure we will cover it again but it is basically a mix of seafood with onions and sometimes tomatoes and chillies depending on where you have it. It can also be served raw. In Panama we had a mixed one with prawns, octopus, fish, squid and concha which is a large mollusc. Delicious with a squeeze of lime and crackers to eat it off.



When I began writing this entry I didn’t think I would have much to say but it turns out that Central America does have some diversity but I still wouldn’t go so far as to call it a culinary destination; there just isn’t that much imagination in the regions cooking methods.

As I’ve said we’re already in Peru and even after just one week I feel more enthusiastic about my next blog although I’m still not sure I can bring myself to eating a cute little guinea pig.

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Comments

[Aunty Sue]

Foooood!
Sounds like there is a bit of a round the world food series ready in the making here Mrs. T!!