Peruvians Live for It- Comida

Three weeks. That's how long it takes me to get settled! With being settled I'm discovering that I have more free time than I anticipated and, being the daughter of Brian Jerome, I definitely do not see myself laying around. The goal is try to do something new every afternoon here on out! (All things considered I was spending this afternoon writing a paper, in Spanish).
Anyway, I'd like to focus this blogpost on the thing that keeps all going and glues cultures together- food. Here in Peru I have never encountered such an interesting array of food and eating mannerisms. First meal of the day is breakfast. My host mother has been really good at introducing me to different foods. Thus far I've had bread (the bread here looks like a thicker, chewier version of a pita) accompanied by either chicken, cheese eggs, or avocado (my personal favorite. Also I can't say that I can easily have a locally grown avocado in Vermont).

Pan cusqueño

I drink a lot of fluids during breakfast, which including tea, coffee, and juice. Since the majority of the coffee is exported from Peru there isn't a lot left for the rest of the population, so it comes in a thick concentrate (like an espresso). The tea is also pretty strong, so for both you have to add a lot of hot water. I still think it's just crazy!
Juice is the third essential component of breakfast. I've had everything from tuna (cactus fruit/ personal favorite), tastes a lot like watermelon) to quinoa (tasted like liquid applesauce) to leche con platanos (literally a banana smoothie).

Tunas

At school I usually drink five cups of tea so that I can pay attention but I'm starting to think that it might be a good idea to get some knitting materials. In the middle of the school day Julia, my program's rural home stay coordinator (we're going to stay on one of the floating reed villages on Lake Titicaca in a few weeks), gets us some sort of snack like chicken sandwiches. choclo con queso (corn of the cob with cheese), or cake, especially if it's somebodies birthday! There are also a lot of enticing snacks always being sold on the street by local women, like fruit, cake, churros, and juices.

Choclo con queso

Lunch, just like Spain, is the biggest meal of the day and consists of two courses. The first is some sort of caldo, a Peruvian broth soup that consists of anything from chicken to noodles to beef, along with assorted spices. The past few things that I have had for the second course has been arroz con seca (rice with some sort of spiced sauce), fried trout (my favorite), chicken all of which is served with some sort of refresco, like purple corn juice or honey lemon tea.

Chicha morada/ purple corn juice

Dinner is usually just a little snack at around 7 or 8, which I don't mind because at that point I feel like I've already finished an eating marathon.
To spice things up there are quite a few interesting food mannerisms here in Peru. First, whenever anyone leaves the table you have to say 'provecho', which translates to 'excuse me'. Also, whenever you eat anything that's heavy or fatty, like meat, you're supposed to take a shot of whiskey. When I went to Calca with my family we had a dish with seventeen ingredients and very fatty, so I was forced by family to take a swig of family (the Jeromes just drink tea, with the occasional touch of honey). Also, when I was in Machu Pichu I ordered chicharrones, fried chicken, which was served with a shot of rum right in the middle. There also into drinking hot drinks after drink whole milk (like when we had hot chocolate last week) because they say that you won't fall asleep without doing so.
There you have it! A short, vague synopsis of Peruvian cuisine! Definitely need to learn the names of more dishes but I'll make sure to incorporate them in my future blog posts!

Cheers and may you find some yummy grub this week!