Buen Provecho: The tastier side of things

This is a picture of my last meal with my family in El Paso. I am literally salivating over this right now, but I keep accidentally looking at the picture and have to tell someone about it (and it is a good segue into Peruvian food). The mountain of shredded beef and other stuff is called Sal Picón, and it makes the best tacos in the world, (Peruvians don’t eat tortillas, so I’m going to have to include this in my “intercultural exchanging”). The night before this, we also ate like kings when Greg cooked some awesome steaks with home made chile con queso on top and we cooked enchiladas with them…Wow that sounds awesome.

As for Peruvian food, I really can’t complain most days. My family here cooks really good dishes, and haven’t made me sick yet…they haven’t made me sick, but that is definitely not to say that other Peruvian cooks haven’t done so (a huge topic to be discussed at a later time). My family feeds me portions fit for a Sumo Wrestler, but I’ve gotten used to it and might have a future in competitive eating after the Peace Corps. It’s really become a funny situation because my fellow volunteers think I am insane to eat so much, but my family honestly told me that I don’t eat very much food the other day…I guess too much food isn’t something to be mad about.

Every meal here always has potatoes and rice in it, and usually some chicken and corn as well if possible. I think that some volunteers are about to crack from all the rice and potatoes, but I am still holdin’ strong. My family has somehow managed to make every sort of dish imaginable with these same ingredients. They are from the Sierra (mountains) but live in a coastal region, so we get all sorts of different dishes. Also, if any Peruvian food isn’t good, I am always able to put a bunch of lime and ají/rocoto (chile that is really hot and usually made into different types of salsa).

Pachamanca on the roof of my house.

Since I am what I eat, here is a list of some of the different stuff I have eaten (the weird and the normal):

NOTE: Everything listed comes with a little bit of salad usually with red onions, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, beats and lime

• Anticuchos: chicken heart shish kabob’s cooked on a little grill and with chicken liver (usually with it (AWESOME)
• Sopa de mote: Soup made with and tripe (cow intestines and stomach) and corn that is literally almost an inch big.
• My buddy Paul, his house mom, and sister are sick right now from eating this soup at my house yesterday, but my family and I all feel great…maybe one of the iffier dishes to date.
• Lomo Saltado: stir-fry with sliced beef, onions, peppers and rice
• Pollo a la brasa: rotisserie chicken with rice, potatoes
• Pachamanca: Chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes, giant peas, the biggest corn I've ever seen, and bananas all cooked under ground with very hot rocks and wood.
• I'm going to dedicate an entire post to this later because it is really cool and I have tons of pictures
  
• Trucha (trout): with a side of rice, potatoes
• Sometimes comes with a soup made with the trout heads, red onions, lime and ají- definitely not my favorite.
• Ceviche: raw fish soaked with onions and lime for a while to “cook”, sometimes with fresh ají (MAYBE THE BEST THING I’VE HAD).
• Arroz con Pollo: chicken and rice
• Arroz con Mariscos: A mountain of rice with vegetables and a bunch of random seafood in it. (really good)
• Papas rellenos (stuffed potatoes): stuffed with chicken and other stuff
• Papa a la Huancayina: Potatoes with cream sauce with a side of rice
• Ají de Gallina: Shredded chicken in a spicy cream sauce with a side of rice and potatoes
• Arroz Chaufa (fried rice): usually with chicken, but sometimes with hot dog slices (super popular- there is literally at least one chifa/Chinese restaurant on every block in this area
• Chicharón: Fried pig meat and mainly fat, rice, potatoes
• Made me really sick in the mountains a couple of weeks ago.
• Biztec (thin cut steak): marinated and pan cooked with rice and potatoes
• Chicken and rice soup
• Tamales
• Hamburgers: not always positive if they are made with beef, but really thin, with tomatoes, lettuce, ham, ají, and fried potatoes slices
• Also the first thing to make me sick here. I think it was from dirty lettuce
• They also hammer out chicken into hamburger-like patties and call them hamburgers
• Big and Tasty at Mc Donald’s- Amy bought me it in the Lima Airport, and it was with out a doubt the hardest thing on my stomach on this list. It basically did a cannonball into my stomach, and I almost didn’t make the bus ride home to my town that night.
• CUY!!! (Guinea Pig): I still have yet to eat it, but where I am moving, it is really common and my school I will teach at has a cuy farm. It’s usually fried or cooked like rotisserie chicken. I hear it is usually really good.

*NOTE TO FUTURE VOLUNTEERS: Peace Corps is right when they say you will get sick a lot…but it sorta just becomes more of a joke and it really isn’t too bad because you always get over it pretty quickly. Just try to ease you way into extreme foods. I didn’t eat ceviche until I was literally looking at the ocean and had lived in Peru for about 5 weeks. Just take advantage of the Training Center bathroom when you are sick, because it is way nicer than most homes, and not located almost in the living room you family always is in. My bathroom has a big gap above the door and it makes the bathroom like a megaphone into the den…I just feel bad for them.

For breakfast I usually eat the same thing: French rolls with butter, strawberry marmelade, cheese, and avocado to put on top. We always have Nescafé powder coffee (or what ever you call it) with raw ground sugar and canned Gloria’s brand milk. Some days I luck out and get scrambled eggs with sliced up hot dogs in them (I don’t know why, but this sounds like something I would have loved to eat at Hunter Williams house when I was little). Some other days I get “Quackér” (oatmeal) made with sugar and cinnamon and sometimes apples.

Almost everyday I eat lunch at the training center, so I take a sack lunch with my “Túper” (tupperwear) full of food and eat with all of the other volunteers. Most volunteers get the same thing for lunch and dinner (or get last nights leftovers) but I am lucky, and usually get different stuff.

Enjoy your next meal for me, because I miss some things like fried chicken and waffles, pancakes, enchiladas, tacos, and giant steaks. Bon Appetit!