Food

Now that is always an interesting topic - and one of particular interest to me as I love to eat and I love to cook!

My memories of my first trip to Guatemala were not full of wonderful food so its been a surprise to have some positive stories to share. I came to Guatemala thinking I was going to lose weight and that did happen the first couple of weeks as I lived in homestays and did not have much of an appetite. But then I moved to Santiago to live with the team and was introduced to food a ala Al and Elaine! They cooked for the team for 2 1/2 weeks and boy did we eat well - all on $25 a week per person budget. Cinnamon buns, chicken stews and fruit salads are some of the most vivid memories. They would send us off each morning with our tummies full of warm porridge covered with some of the very raw brown sugar you can buy here - and we'd come home for lunches of homemade soups and biscuits. All the comforts of home!

When they left there was a big void to fill and with some trepidation I said I was interested in doing some of the cooking; trepidation because I have not even been doing much cooking in my own home let alone cook meals for 15 people three times a day. As it turned out Brenda was also interested so the two of use took on the role for just shy of two weeks with some help from Jo. I loved the opportunity to head off to the market each morning (a twenty minute walk which included a hike up a very steep hill), to explore the market to find the food needed for our menus (food is organized differently in Guatemala so it takes some getting used to), coming home with our treasures, washing all the vegetables and then getting down to food preparation. One of my favourite stories is trying to select avocados for a guacemole. I was hunched over putting them into my lap as I found ones I thought were good. Another shopper, a woman in tipico Mayan dress took one out of my hands and told me that it was not a good one (told me in sign language as I do not speak or understand Tsutjihil) and showed me what was wrong. I then showed her the other ones I had chosen and she vetted them as well. It was one of those moments where language was not important and the smile on her face as I expressed my thanks with a similar smile was memory making.

Another food story I want to share with you is about eating out. We have made three trips to San Juan, a lovely aldea close to Santiago. One the first trip Mary, a young American woman working as a volunteer in the community, introduced us to the Elinora Comidor. It is a lunchtime restaurant that seats about 50 and offers three or four selections each day. The kitchen, which you can see on your way to the sanitarios, is very basic with the standard wood stove which heats the planchas for tortilla making. Lunch is usally rice, a quarter of an avacodo, some other cooked vegetable like whiskele or carrots and grilled or fried chicken - all for Q20 (less than $3). I have loved each of the meals we have shared there.

Last story - about making tortillas. They are a staple of the diet here and when we were working on the stove project we became aware that the planchas they are cooked on are smeared with lime ( we think to reduce rusting) . Of course our Northern experience with lime is in gardening not cooking. We tend to think of lime as caustic so needless to say we were puzzled and concerned. I did some on line research which did not calm my concerns so then contacted one of my colleagues who is a PhD chemist and asked him about the use of lime in cooking. His answer - yes lime can be caustic but when it comes in contact with heat, that property is eliminated and in fact the calcium in the lime is released adding calcium to the diet. Something important for people who are living below the poverty line and especially for children and women nursing.

But the story does not end there. I was visiting at Andasa, a cooperative which began to support women who lost their husbands in the mud slide associated with Hurrican Stan. Juan who is one of the leaders lives at the headquarters in Panabaj and I had a chance to talk to him and his wife about tortilla preparation. The women buy maiz (a large hard corn kernal) and put a couple of cups of it in a pot with water to cover it and them a small pinch of lime. They boil the maiz for 20 - 30 minutes and then wash away all the liquid (the lime helps the maiz soften). Then they take the cooked corn to a shop with a machine that grinds the corn into a very thick paste the consistency of a thick cookie dough. The paste is put into a small plastic bowl and brought home ( remember every one here walks) and small globs, about 2 inches in diameter are then patted back and forth by hand to a four inch diameter cirle that is put on the plancha to cook. The patting of the tortillas is one of those sounds I will always associate with Guatemala.

And as I close this blog I am off to make myself a big fruit salad.

Adios, Colina