As I mentioned yesterday, Cuaresma [Lent] has street food that is sold at the booths outside the church where the velación, vigil, is taking place. Normally, velaciones are held Fridays and Saturdays, sometimes the vigils begin on Wednesdays. Some of this food is also found during other religious celebrations; such is the case with buñuelos, … Read more
As I have mentioned before, panes con pollo or chicken sandwiches are the staple food of velaciones, vigils, along with batido, a drink made from tropical fruits and pinol. Panes con pollo are basically pirujo bread with lettuce, chicken, mayo, ketchup and salsa; one can ask for hot sauce or guacamol. Bon appetite!
As explained before during the Lent Food series, Lent has some food that is associated with it and sold at the food stalls out side where velación, vigil, is held. As Lent progresses towards the Holy Week which begins tomorrow on Domingo de Ramos, Palm Sunday, there are more and more vigils per week. Just … Read more
As explained before, corbatas are fried flour-based crunchy dessert soaked in syrup or honey. Corbatas take their name from the shape they are cooked into. I believe corbatas are known as buñuelos in Mexico, which are not at all like the Guatemalan buñuelos. What’s the name of corbatas in English? When was the last time … Read more
Panes con pollo, chevere hot dogs and shuco hot dogs are the sandwiches that are present at every town fair and velación, vigil. Of course, there is a big difference between a shuco and chevere hot dog as I explained before: To the uneducated eye the Guatemalan Chevere and Shuco hotdogs are just exotic hotdogs, … Read more
These apples will soon turn into caramelized apples. Toffee apples, as they are known in England, are a good example of the syncretism found in the Guatemalan gastronomy, don’t you think?
Batido is a fruity drink topped with a powder called pinol, a coarse flour made from ground toasted maize kernels, often in a mixture with a variety of herbs and ground seeds, which can be eaten by itself or be used as the base for a beverage*. The old man serving the batido here told … Read more
Panes con pollo or chicken sandwiches are the staple food of velaciones, vigils, along with batido, a drink made from tropical fruits and pinol. You better come back tomorrow for the full recipe of the batido drink. Panes con pollo are basically pirujo bread with lettuce, chicken, mayo, ketchup and salsa; one can hot sauce … Read more
Basically, plataninas are green platano/plantains chips. Plantains are like bananas, but much bigger and with a unique flavor. Guatemalans eat platanos in many forms, such as plataninas, rellenitos (deep-fried stuffed platains balls), fritos (fried), atol de platano, chairbroiled and baked; just to name a few. For this entire series, I decided to go as early … 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