Bon Appetite!

It seems like so much of culture is tied to food. Since we've gotten here everyone keeps asking us, "have you tried ceviche?" We kept saying no, mostly because we were warned to wait until our stomaches were a bit stronger until we tried it. Ceviche is raw, well sort of raw, fish. It's "cooked" by the acid of lime juice. Last week was the first time all of the girls tried this dish, Dave tried it one time at the beach with some friends. We purposefully found a clean restaurant and gave it a shot. I put a piece on my plate and I had such a huge mental block... I don't eat fish, much less raw fish. My team kept encouraging me but I just needed a moment to think it through. Roxy and I shared a small bite since neither of us were too sure that this would turn out to be an enjoyable experience. We counted to three and stuck the forks in out mouthes, chewed, and swallowed. I'm glad that I tried it but there is definitely something to be said for the texture of raw fish... excuse me, fish cooked by citrus acid.

But there are quite a few "national" foods and drinks and they all seem to come in large portions. Arroz con pollo, ceviche, papas a la huancaina, Inca Kola, Pisco Sours... and the list goes on. People are so proud to feed you the food of their nation. This has really made us all think: what foods are we proud of? What do we prepare when international guests come to visit? We all got stuck on that. When we get homesick we go out for things like pizza and hamburgers but those are just things that we eat at home and not foods from our home. North America is such a conglomeration of ethnicities that we don't have a "national dish". Even when we think of what we cook at home... lasagna is Italian, tacos are Mexican, and chicken is pretty universal. Food is such a big part of culture, even if North America, eating is a social event but we just don't have a national food.