Bread

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When you think of South American food, unfortunately, many people think of tacos and enchiladas, which is entirely inaccurate for pretty much everywhere except Mexico. It's actually pretty difficult to generalize food in S America as each country and even each region within each country has such different customs when it comes to preparing food. In fact, even foods with the same name and same general idea behind them can be so different, they are unrecognizeable when you're used to seeing it a certain way. I can't speak for everywhere else, but in Colombia, the food is amazing - ajiaco, sancocho, mamona, tamales, picadas, cholaos, arepas, empanadas, I mean, there were very few things that I didn't love. But this entry is not about that. It's about bread. One thing that I will miss so much back here in the States is the wonderful, fresh, delicious bread that you can find on basically every single corner. And there are so many different kinds, some with cheese (they love cheese here), some with arrequipe (omg, I don't like sweets that much, but there is not much better than fresh arrequipe), some with bocadillo (not my favorite, but still really good), some plain, some with raisins, some with cinnamon, some made with thick, heavy bread, others more like danishes, some crusty, some soft, some made out of corn flour, other vegetable flour, I mean, they are so creative and they are all so delicious. Almost every day before I went to the gym I would treat myself to a peice of warm bread from the panaderia around the corner from the hospital. 300 pesos. That's 15 cents. Magollones, 1500 pesos, that's 75 cents, pastel de gloria (my favorite) 1200 pesos, 60 cents. Bread is a part of their daily life and while my waistline certainly won't miss it, my mouth and my tastebuds are already feeling the sadness that comes with regular supermarket bread. If you ever go to S. America, go to a bread store and eat everything in it, you won't be sorry, or your tastebuds won't be.

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