Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Corn for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner?

I am not a strict vegetarian, but I do avoid eating meat, and I don´t eat any sort of flour products for many reasons. So, this leaves my host families with not too many options. What to feed me? Basically, in Peru, I eat fish, rice, potatoes and the ubiquitous corn. Yet in Peru, corn isn´t just corn. It´s a way of life. There are apparently lots of different types of corn, and hundreds of ways to prepare it. At a restaurant, while waiting for a main course to be served, it´s common for waiters to bring you "cancha" to "pick on." Cancha is a special type of corn that is fried and salted. It´s eaten like Americans tend to eat peanuts at bars. It´s also served alongside chifle, which is fried plantain. For lunch today, I also tried just a little bit of a tamale made with corn. I was warned that the tamale would be "heavy," not easy to digest; but I found it to be quite good and not at all picante. This, too, was unexpected. It seems everything in Peru is either spicy or really spicy. Oh, and for breakfast, the last few days, I have been served choclo, which is another type of corn. Its kernals are fat and juicy. Choclo is boiled and served with fresh cheese. To say that I have a new appreciation for corn and all corn products would not be an exaggeration.

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