Guatemalan Cuisine: Fiambre Slideshow
On November 1st and 2nd Guatemala, like many other catholic countries, celebrates the Day of the Dead (Día de los Difuntos) and the All Saints Day (Día de los Santos). The cemeteries, from the most exclusive to the most modest and humble, become overwhelmed with people bringing flowers, crosses, food and even music (sometimes Mariachi music) to their dead relatives.
Two days ago I told you about the Giant Kites (over 15 meters wide) that fill the skies over the cemeteries of Sacatepéquez to help guide the dead back to their love ones. Unfortunately it was not possible for me to go to the near-by towns that have them. So, I found a site that has a Photographic Tour of the Giant Kites (thanks to blog dumitraqui for the link). You will have to know four Spanish words to navigate the show: Entrar (enter), Siguiente (next), Anterior (previous) and Inicio (home). More photos of the Giant Kites can be found at Flickr.
Fiambre, a salad made from cold cuts, all kinds of meats, fish, vegetables and pickled vegetables, is served on November 1st, after a visit to the cemetery. Fiambre is a cold meal of Spanish origin, possibly from the Extremadura provinces in Spain. Fiambre is a very special meal for Guatemalans and it is only available on November 1st and 2nd. Because fiambre is an extremely rare and unique meal which can include over 50 ingredients, I decided to show you the final part of the preparation through a slide show.
The photos were taken a Lo-Mix Cafeteria, which is a small restaurant with over 35 years of making fiambre. Lo-Mix is chosen by many Antigüeños as their fiambre provider and we have bought our fiambre from them since 2002. The owners of Lo-Mix told me it takes them about 15 days of pre preparation to get to the stage you will see in the photos. For those who live in Antigua and want to know where buy good fiambre, Lo-Mix is on 7a calle poniente N. 25B and their telephone number is 5656-9417.
This slide show is dedicated to Ale from Arte-sano. Bon appetite mano!
Other sites that cover Día de Muertos, Fiambre and the Giant Kites:
- Day of the Dead at Chapinadas
- Vegetables for Fiambre at Chapinadas
- A mis muertos at Arte-sano (Spanish)
- Tradición oral en el día de los Santos at Guate360 (Spanish)
- Noviembre inicia con fiambre at Guate360 (Spanish)
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