Food of Central America

The food of Central America so far is relatively the same in each country. Although each country seems to claim a traditional specific to their coutry food they seem to be very similar to their Central American counterpart.Nearly every traditional meal features: rice, beans and cabbage. There is a lot of pollo(chicken) dishes and carne(beef), I would say these are the most common. Of course there are always tortillas around used in many many meals. At many restaurants in the city it's not uncommon to stumble upon hamburgers, pizza, pasta and especially Chinese food which you can even find in less populated areas, sometimes.

Aside from the normal meals the street food features a lot of variety as well. I would say the most common is fruit, usually mango, papaya, banana or plantain and on occasion you'll find fresh coconut and pineapple (be sure to ask if its been washed. Also on the street you'll find U.S. classics like hot dog, I haven't tried one yet but they look good and it seems most vendors have added Latin American spice to them. Also only sonce I've arrived in San Cristobal de las casa, Mexico have I found churros which are delicious but apparently exclusively Mexican. In every city or little town there are ice cream vendors usually selling Eskimo products, ice cream is a nice break on a hot day, also there are many vendors who sell none eskimo ice cream but usually its a mix between pure sugar, ice and a little actual ice cream.

Since we've arrived many meals have been home cooked, this requires going to the local food market. This task on certain days can be incredibly stressful but on others a lot of fun when it's more laid back and you can shop with ease. Here you can find everything! All kinds of vegetables especially, all homegrown of course and fresh, many different variety of fruits, some fruits are a little to ripe and the wasps lurk on every corner of a juicy mango. The meat at the markets always makes me cringe a little. Often there are flies all around it and most likely if you get there around 2pm it has been laying out all day, so I usually stay away. If you want really fresh meat you can buy a rooster, all you have to do is take it home and ring its neck, I still haven't done this but probably should learn, after all I eat chicken so therefore I should learn to kill and prepare it. You can find fish only in some areas that obviously are near a ready supply. Still we have yet to buy meat at the markets. Also in the market or more common in a little shop you can buy fresh tortillas steaming hot for really cheap this is a great accompiniment to a home cooked meal everytime.

Overall I would say you can eat super nutritious or if you go eat out everyday you might gain one or two. I would say throughout our investigation I've been between the two more or less evenly. The food has been delicious except for a few instances and I've only had diarreah for a week(I think this is fairly normal).