Among the most popular foods found for dinner in Christmas Eve and during Christmas are tamales colorados (red tamales), tamales negros (black tamales), pierna, pavo (turkey) for main dishes. Also, apples and grapes are almost always found at the table. For drinks the most popular is ponche (fresh or dried fruit punch), but you can … Read more
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).
Well, chiles rellenos are not just a Christmas seasonal food since they are available everyday, 24×7 in Guatemala. Last year I described Guatemalan chiles rellenos like this:
But like in anything else in life, something good emerged from such a tragic history. Fried plantains, rellenitos (fried plantain mass filled with black beans), atol de platano (plantain-based hot and thick drink) and even the wrappings of traditional Guatemalan tamal came from the banana trees. Man, I could on and on talking about bananas recipes and dishes in Guatemala like Bubba did in Forest Gump about shrimp.
By the way, although I have not mentioned it yet, every night as I write the daily entry I can hear the bombas (bombs) firecracker, the cohetes (firecrackers) being burnt, the church bells tolling, the canchinflines (whistle) firecracker and all kinds of unknown (to me) firecracker being burnt and creating a loud bang which I can hear as echoes through the far away streets. In additions to the smells and scents, the Christmas season in Guatemala has a soundtrack of its own.
The Christmas lights that illuminate the Parque Central and Calle del Arco were inaugurated on the night of December 1st with fireworks, music and Christmas food vendors. Today I share one the fireworks bursting above the former Catedral de Santiago. Stay tuned for more Christmas lights decorations on Calle del Arco and Parque Central.
In Guatemala, Christmas is a family day; an occasion for strengthening the family bonds. Christmas is also a feast day full of deliciously comfort food such as tamales, ponche (fruit punch), hot traditional chocolate drink, café de olla, desserts, and the fruits for the occasion are grapes and apples. ¡Feliz Navidad!
Guatemalan ponche, fruit punch is the most popular drink for the Christmas season. The fruit punch above was prepared from package from Delfresco which includes the following dried fruits: apple, sugar cane, raisins, dried prunes, manzanilla (yellow plums), guava, pineapple, plátano (plantain), tamarind, cinnamon, and hibiscus tea and I added allspice, fresh chopped apple, pineapple … Read more
You can sense the Christmas spirit already in and around La Antigua Guatemala, alright. From the processions, the convites, the town fairs, the food, the Christmas baskets, the poinsettias, on and on. Soon the posadas will begin as well, in fact, I believe they start on December 15. Anyhow, here I captured the moment before … Read more
Instead of buying stuff, these two musicians decided to play and sing some Christmas carols for a group of shoe-shiner boys who gave them their total undivided attention. What a wonderful way of showing appreciation and love for others. In my opinion, this is much better than actually buying gifts. So, this Christmas, if you … Read more
Today we will begin our Spanish lesson with some very important Guatemalan Spanish words: Poporopos, Plataninas, Papalinas and Churros. Poporopos: This is the Guatemalan Spanish for pop corn. Most other Spanish-speaking countries use palomitas. I believe Guatemala is the only country that uses the word poporopos. Plataninas: Basically, plataninas are green platano/plantains chips. Plantains are … Read more
Just as in other celebrations, Lent has a food that is sold at the food stalls out side where velación, vigil, is held. Some of the food is also found during other celebrations such buñuelos which I believe were first covered during the Christmas season. Here we see the king of buñuelos preparing the first … Read more
Here’s a typical Guatemalan breakfast for Christmas, which is normally a quite day except for the fireworks and firecrackers which begin at 12am and continue through the night until dawn and for 10 minutes at 12pm again. Christmas in Guatemala is a family day, an occasion for strengthening the family bonds. Christmas is also a … Read more
Guatemalan buñuelos are kind like round French toast and they are served with a lot hot syrup made from water, sugar, anís (anise), cinnamon sticks, all-spice just to name the main ingredients.
Buñuelos are one of the most popular Guatemalan comfort foods for December. If you follow the white rabbit, you can browse some of the other comfort foods found at town fairs in December; of course, some of these comfort foods are found all year round.
In La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations draw together all kinds of heterogeneous people and the feast day of Virgen de Guadalupe is no exception. On December 12 celebrations of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, you can find gringa moms, indigenous mamás, ladino madres and white mamás all taking their children dressed with … Read more