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Recycling the Maize Canes

It’s amazing how this farmworker can carry so many discarded maize canes on his back, just like an ant, carrying more weight …

We’re Women of Maize

As I said before, it is impossible to think of the Guatemalan, Mexican and Mesoamerican diet without maize. From the Popul Vuh …

We’re Men of Maize

It is impossible to think of the Guatemalan, Mexican and Mesoamerican diet without maize. From the Popul Vuh (Popol Wuj in modern …

On the Way to the Maize Mill

The Guatemalan way of life is rapidly disappearing right in front of our eyes. Today’s entry is such a case, as the …

Maize Cane Fence

Not all the walls in La Antigua Guatemala are made from stones, bricks or pumice blocks, some are actually made from organic …

Lunch With a View

How was it, a room with a view or a lunch with a view? Well, here it was lunch with a panoramic …

Guatemalan tamales — Chepitos

Chepitos are the other kind of tamalitos de frijol I have had the opportunity to try in Guatemala. The difference between tayuyos …

Guatemalan tamales — Tayuyos

There are two kinds of tamalitos de frijol that I have encountered in Guatemala: Tayuyos and Chepitos. Today I bring you tayuyos …

Guatemalan Food: Iguana

The Guatemalan gastronomy can be very exotic at times. Iguana prepared with tomato and chile sauce as shown here, with black tortillas …

Corn, Beans and Light

I enjoy talking to and interviewing the campesinos I encounter on my morning walks on the hills of the skirt of Volcán …

We’re Hombres de Maíz

As I have mentioned before, it is impossible to think of the Guatemalan, Mexican and Mesoamerican diet without maize. From the Popul …

Peasants on their way to work

Another common sight of the #RealGuatemala around Antigua Guatemala is the peasants on their way to work their land. This is especially …

Guatemalan Tamalito de Elote

Let me introduce the famous “Tamalito de Elote.” Made of corn, it’s one of the simplest ones when it comes to its …

Guatemalan Tamalitos de Frijol

These are tamalitos de frijol, which basically are small tamales, thus tamalITOS, with black beans mixed in before cooking and wrapped with …

Lent Food: Batido Drink

Batido is a fruity drink topped with a powder called pinol, a coarse flour made from ground toasted maize kernels, often in …

Typical Guatemalan Nativity Scene

This is also the season of posadas (shelter quest) and nacimientos (nativity scenes) in Latin America, Guatemala and more specifically Antigua Guatemala. …

Recycling Around Antigua Guatemala

Often I have shared with you the different recycling programs available around Antigua Guatemala. There are many recycling approaches that people use …

Going to Tend the Milpa

This photos was taken on the outskirts of Volcán de Agua where many people have milpas and orchards. Besides the obvious corn …

Corn Husk Dolls

Since We’re Men of Maize it’s no wonder that we also do many things with the by-products of maize. We use corn …

Fusion Cuisine Pupusas

Nothing is sacred in the kitchen and fusion is the tendency in vogue. So it comes as no surprise to find new …

Elotes asados

It does not matter where you go in Guatemala, you are certain to find elotes asados (charbroiled corn on the cob). This …

Poinsettias Everywhere

In Guatemala poinsettias are known as Flor de Pascua, Flor de Noche Buena or simply Pascuas. Poinsettias are native to Guatemala and …

The Tortillas Transactions

We are men of maize! It is impossible to think the Guatemalan, Mexican and Mesoamerican diet without maize. From the Popul Vuh …

Craving Corn: Elote

One of the things I look forward to most when venturing out on a little jaunt outside of La Antigua is elote. …

Colorful Guatemala

Colorful Guatemala, I tell you, colorful Guatemala! Si ni los mismos guatemaltecos logramos entender la complejidad cultural en la que vivimos… —Ale …

Guatemalan Fruit: Zapote

Many were the contributions of Meso-America to the world in terms of brand-new dietary crops; so long is the list that one …

Guatemalan Cuisine: Rabo Guisado

Okay, get your Guatemalan notebook handy, we’re about to learn a few Guatemalan words and concepts. Rabo Guisado translate roughly as ox …

Wear it with Pride (Part 3)

Sure, you say, the traje indí­gena is a far out outfit, but are there really symbols encoded in these garments? Once again, …

How to make the perfect Guatemalan Tortilla

Well, for starters you need ‘real’ nixtamalized maize dough (nothing of the maseca flour that Manolo uses), a ‘real’ comal (baked clay griddle) and you need to use ‘real’ leña (wood logs, quite possibly pine). After that, you need a good pair of hand to tortear (hit into shape) a real looking tortilla. You don’t need no sticking mold to shape your tortillas ma’am. 😉

Traditional Guatemalan Christmas Food: Dobladas

Dobladas (turned over) is our last meal at the Virgen of Guadalupe Celebrations. Dobladas are made from nixtamalized masa (maize dough) like tortillas, but other ingredients are added before the masa dish is folded over itself and cooked. The ingredients that are added to the doblada are normally ground pork rinds, cheese, mashed potatoes, whole beans, et-cetera, but could be anything really. For instance I would like to find dobladas with cheese and loroco flowers; that would be very tasteful. Dobladas are normally fried or cooked over a comal (griddle made from cooked clay); just like tortillas. Dobladas are very similar to pupusas, except they are turned over. Check out the giant pupusas or Mayan pizza photos. Once dobladas ared cooked they are top with repollo salad (cabbage salad or coleslaw), tomato sauce and/or chile sauce (hot and spicy sauce).

Theme Day: Typical Breakfast

Basically, the Guatemalan breakfast includes black beans, eggs, coffee and maize tortillas or bread; it may also include fried plantain, cream, creese and chirmol sauce. The black beans can be served parados or whole, revueltos or refried and licuados or liquified. The eggs can be served sunny side up like the picture above, boiled or scrambled.

Guatemalan Fair: The Games

The Latin American lottery is played with cardboards of nine images, each cardboard is different, bean or maize counts, and a person calling out aloud the name of the images: La Chalupa, El Borracho, El Catrí­n, La Campana, El Cantaro, et-cetera. Whoever gets all nine images called out and accounted for with beans or maize seeds wins the lottery, if, and only if they scream with all their lungs LO-TE-RIIIIAAAAA.

Guatemalan Fair: The French Fries Stall

Papas fritas is the Guatemalan Spanish name for French fries. Here is the abbreviated history that gave us the Guatemalan french fries stall: first the Quechuas or Incas domesticated the potato (Solanum tuberosum) into a crop in southern Peru and northern Bolivia; the Spanish conquistadors took it to Europe where it was an instant hit and along with maize turned a famine-prone population into a healthy society; somewhere in one of the northern European states, quite possibly Germany, the potato lost its skin and got deep-fried; This Eurpean recipe crossed the Atlantic with the new immigrants that came to U.S. and since it was a foreign-looking recipe, they called it French fries (remember Coneheads); so the French fries came to Guatemala along one of the many incursions from the United Stateians (Americans they seem to call themselves 😉 ) as a side dish for the hamburger or the hot dog. Guatemalans thought that French fries were too good to be side dish and turned it into a meal by itself. That is how the papas fritas cart came to be.

Making Tortillas in Guatemala

Yesterday I mentioned that the traditional baked-clay comales are disappearing in Guatemala in favor of the metal comal; heated through gas. All …

Comal Selling In Antigua

No, we aren’t talking about Comal County around the San Antonio area in Texas (Click the link to visit San Antonio Daily …

Guatemalan Cuisine: Hilachas

Hilachas is the name of the dish based on shredded meat with recado (tomato-based sauce), and cut up potatoes. If you compare …

Guatemalan Cuisine: Pache

Guatemalan Cuisine: Pache, originally uploaded by rudygiron. Tamales are an ancient American food, made throughout the continent for over 5000 years. How …