Guatemala…
Well if you’ve been reading the blog so far then you’ve got a good idea of Guatemalan cuisine so far. Lots of rice, tortillas and strange looking turd like frijol which is fried beans.
The tortilla is the staple of Guatemalan diet. Considering just about the only thing they can grow well is maize, there’s no shortage of tortilla. Harvest season is around March where they will dry it (i assume) and then they can soften it at a later date with water containing lime (not the fruit, but the stuff from the ground.). Once softened and mashed, it is flattened between palms into discs the size of a CD. The sound of palms slapping and flattening tortillas became a signiture sound of our Guatemalan travels! Anyway, all that said, it’s either the maize, or the lime, that became sickening after two weeks of tortilla and eventually reached the point of “sin tortilla por favor” (without tortilla please).
Typical breakfast is tortilla, scrambled eggs with tomato and onion, frijol and some juice of whatever fruit available.
Street food is abundant and where most people will eat if they’re not in the mood for cooking. Usually consists of BBQ chicken or meat, salsa, 3 tortillas, salad, and will cost about $1. Sometimes even less. A great way to eat cheaply when budgeting!
Dinner is a pretty similar affair to be honest. Pollo o carne asado (BBQ chicken or meat), tortilla, rice, salad, salsa, and chips if you ask nicely. The chips are proper “just cut and thrown in the oil” style. Yum!
In areas around Lago Atitlan (in the highlands of the west), coffee is grown and dried by the sides of the roads in the heat of the sun.
All in all, nothing too offensive about Guatemalan food, but a real lack of veg because the climate isn’t really suitable. Like rice and chicken and you won’t be going hungry.
