Daily Life Blog Post - Food

This is one of many (hopefully) editions featuring aspects of daily life here in Guatemala... in writing these, I hope to share funny things, ironic things, and things I admire and I want to share them not as a form of judgment... in ANY way... but in a form of telling a story... with that being said...  here's information about food!

Food.

You can tell a lot about a culture from the food they eat.  In Guatemala, there is an interesting mix of food from the States (Ramen, McDonalds (that's where you go for special occasions), prepared soups), and traditional foods.  The traditional foods are what I love and they really tell us a lot about the culture.

 I didn't realize how true the "food tells us about culture" notion is until today.  Today was multiculturalism day... the day when everyone wears traditional clothing and every class presents to the students a traditional food showing them the ingredients, prices for each ingredient, what it all looks like, and where in Guatemala each ingredient is grown.   It was really cool to see the kids in teaching roles and empowered to take the role of teacher for one of the first times.

The kids getting a lesson in sugary tomales from one of the 1st grade classes

Me, with two of the 1st graders, wearing my former host mom's traditional Xela clothing

The primary ingredients in these foods are corn, sugar, cinnamon, beans, and rice... all things that can be grown here.  Corn, the commodity that can be grown in every department in this country, is a staple in almost every featured meal... including the drinks.  Sugar and cinnamon, things that I can't even picture the plants for (aisle 9, lefthand side at Safeway), are grown here and therefore featured because they make the corn taste better. Beans are affordable, filling, and healthy... if you ever thought there was a limit to ways that you can serve beans, you probably should visit here in order to get your mind blown. Like sugar and cinnamon, I don't think of beans as a crop, I see them as coming from a can with a nice looking woman on it. 

2nd Grade showing their enchiladas

6th grade and Platanos Rellenos

Then, there are the other foods.  The various peppers, spice things that I don't understand, random use of fruits, really really really inexpensive tomatoes (I have been known to beg/argue to pay more for a 1/2 pound because I really don't need a pound of tomatoes but they are so cheap you can't cut the price in half)... they are all used because they are grown here.  They are a part of the land, and therefore a part of the diet. And they're pretty tasty too!

Here's a recipe for you! (if you can read Spanish..)