Hispanic Countries and their Food

By: Megan Deliz

Puerto Rico Puerto Rican cooking is somewhat similar to Mexican

and Spanish cuisine. Puerto Rican food is a blend of Spanish, African, Taino,

and American influences. Locals call their food Cocina criolla, which can be traced

back to the Arawaks and the Tainos. When Ponce de Leon arrived with Colombus in 1493, the

Spanish added beef, pork, rice, wheat, and olive oil to the island’s foodstuffs.

Later, the Spanish started planting sugarcane and importing slaves from Africa, which brought with them okra and taro. The mingling of these flavors and ingredients makes up today’s Puerto Rican cuisine.

Puerto Rico (cont.)

• Lunch and dinner begin with sizzling-hot appetizers such as bacalaitos, crunchy cod fritters, surullitos, sweet plump cornmeal fingers, and empanadillas, crescent-shaped turnovers filled with lobster, crab, conch, or beef.

• Soups are also popular at the begging of meals. One of the best known soups are frijoles negros or black-bean soup.

Puerto Rico (cont.)• Many Puerto Rican dishes

are made with adobo and sofrito – blends of herbs and spices.

• Stews are a big part in the Puerto Rican diet. A popular one is carne guisada puertorriquena (Puerto Rican beef stew).

• Meat pies are also popular in their diet. It consists of meats and spices covered with a pastry top and baked.

• They also like to roast pig shoulder (pinel) and chicken (pollo). Arroz con pollo is the most popular dish on the island.

• Many tasty egg dishes are also served, especially tortilla espanola (Spanish omelet).

• Tostones (fried green breadfruit slices) and plantains (a variety of banana that cannot be eaten raw) are also popular. They usually accompany meat, poultry, and fish dishes.

• Puerto Ricans also like fish and shellfish. A popular fried fish with Puerto Rican sauce is mojo isleno. They often cook shrimp in beer called camarones en cerveza. They also like to boil crab.

Puerto Rico (cont.) Puerto Ricans usually use their

harvest of fruits to make delicious deserts. They are usually in the form of flan (custard) or nisperos de batata (sweet potato balls with coconut, cloves and cinnamon).

Coconut is probably the most common desert ingredient such as its milk. It’s used to make coconut flan, coconut cream desserts, and candied coconut rice.

They also use a number of preserves and jellies made with sweet and sour guaveas, mango, and papayas.

Meals are usually finishes with strong, black Puerto Rican coffee.

Also, they usually order a nice cold beer before the meal.

Rum is the national drink. The color is usually amber, gold, or white.

In Puerto Rico, Bloody Marys are made with rum instead of gin or vodka.

Amber rum is often served on the rocks, gold rums are usually served straight or on the rocks in a wooden casks called anejos.

Chilean Food

• The first meal of the day is usually small and consists of bread with assorted toppings and coffee or tea. Bread is brought fresh daily usually from a corner bakery.

• Chileans will top their bread with jelly or a delicious caramel-like topping called manjar.

Chilean Food (cont.)

• The largest meal of the day is usually lunch.

• This will consist of traditional Chilean dishes like cazuela (a stew), pastel de choclo (similar to Shepard pie), or a wide varity of bean dishes such as Porotos Granados, a hot bean dish made with corn and pumpkin.

• “Once” is a light meal that is eaten between 4 and 7 in the afternoon. Often times it is a repeat of breakfast; with bread and sandwich toppings with some tea or coffee.

• Dinner comes in the late evening and will be the size of lunch with traditional Chilean food.

Peru

• The culinary history of the Peruvian food dates back to the Incas and pre-Incas with its maize (corn), potatoes, and spices that later was influenced by the arrival of the Spanish colonies.

• Throughout the years, it incorporated the demands of the different migrations. Such groups included Chinese, European, African, and Japanese immigrants.

Peru (cont.)

Many of the ingredients found in every Peruvian dish are rice, potatoes, chicken, pork, lamb, and fish.

Many of these meals include a different kind of “aji” or Peruvian hot pepper, which mainly are red aji pepper, red recoto pepper, and many others such as the picture on the right which is Arroz con pollo with aji.

Peru (cont.)• Examples of dishes

Peruvians usually eat every day are: Arroz con pollo Aji de gallinaPapa rellenaLomo SaltadoSpaguetti w/ meat

sauceSeco de frejoles

• There are restaurants in Peru that serve all kinds of sea food called Cevicherias.

• The most traditional meal in Peru is the Ceviche.

• This is a cold dish, which mainly consists of pieces of raw fish, cooked by the juice of lemons, served always with onions, camote (sweet Peruvian potato) and, Peruvian aji pepper.

Costa Rican Cuisine• Food staples include carne (beef), pollo (chicken), and pescado

(fish). • Many bars in Costa Rica have a delightful habit of serving

bocas-savory tidbets ranging from ceviche to tortillas con queso (tortillas with chesse) – with each drink.

• Turtle (tortuga) eggs are a popular dish in many bars.• The more popular North American soda pops, such as Pepsi,

Coca-Cola, and sparkling water, called agua mineral or soda, are popular and widely available.

• The Costa Rican refreshers are refrescos, energizing fruit drinks served with water (con agua) or milk (con leche). They're a great way to taste the local fruits, such as tamarindo (the slightly tart fruit of the tamarind tree), mango, and papaya.

• Roadside stalls also sell pipas, green coconuts with the tops chopped off.

Costa Rica (cont.)

• Imported drinks such as wine are expensive. • Beer (cerveza) is served locally; they serve brewed

pilsners and lagers. • Heineken is also brewed under license. Cheaper bars

charge about 60 cents for a local beer; fancy hotels charge about $2. Most bars charge $1.

• The national liquor monopoly also produces vodka and gin, rum, and whiskey. A favorite local mix is Cuba libre (rum and coke). Imported whiskeys-Johnnie Walker is very popular also.

Costa Rica (cont.)

• Costa Rican deserts are very sweet and filled with sugar.

• The picture at the right is a famous desert called Dulce de Leche, a syrup of boiled milk and sugar.

• Other famous deserts are flan (cold caramel custard), mazamorra (corn starch pudding), and melcocha (candy made from raw sugar.

Bolivian Food• Bolivian food is distinctive and is generally good.

National dishes include empanada salteña (a mixture of diced meat, chicken, chives, raisins, diced potatoes, hot sauce and pepper baked in dough), lomo montado (fried tender loin steak with two fried eggs on top, rice and fried banana), and lechón al horno (roast suckling pig served with sweet potato and fried plantains).

• Dishes are dominated by meat. Ilajhua (a hot sauce consisting of tomatoes and pepper pods) will often be used to add spice and flavor to dishes.

Bolivian Drinks• Bolivian beer, especially

paceña, is one of the best on the continent. Chicha, made from fermented cereals and corn, is very strong. Mineral water and bottled drinks are available. There are also numerous whiskerias, local bars. On Fridays and Saturdays there are folk music and dancing shows, which start late in the evening.

Famous Spanish Country Dishes

Flan PaellaSpanish Rice

Spanish OmeletEmpanadas

Sopa