Food is such an integral part of every day life that I quickly forget the differences in both food and shopping here. A summary of Honduran tipica food that I have experienced so far.
The names of many dishes are familiar but actually refer to completely different things than their Mexican cousins. For example, a taco here is more like a Mexican taquito (flour tortilla, rolled up, and fried, covered with cabbage and salsa). Other things have similar names but are different in their execution such as burritos and enchiladas.
These are dishes I have actually tried.
Baleadas- flour tortilla stuffed with usually beans and cheese. You can add eggs if you want the full package. Picture a quesadilla with a smaller thicker tortilla. Our hospital kitchen sells them for 40 cents (beans and cheese) or 75 cents (with eggs too).
Pastelitos- small filled pastries. These can be sweet or savory, depending on the filling.
tajadas- common accompaniment to meals. They taste kind of like french fries, but are made from plantains. I've also had them as the base to the main meal, a bed of these plantains topped with ground beef and cabbage.
guineos (I could have this name wrong...my google search reveals they may also be called tajadas)- sweet plaintains that are boiled or fried. They have a completely different flavor and texture from the plantain chips above. They are softer and much sweeter. These are some of my favorites so far!
Fried chicken is ubiquitous at fast food places here, and as a common main dish. It's pretty tasty, but nothing that different from what you would get in the States.
The Garifuna are a group of black Caribs who live on the north coast and have cuisine that is much more similar to other Caribbean groups (think Jamaican) than it is to other Latin American countries. Their specialties are seafood including grilled lobster and conch, ceviche, seafood soup (with coconut milk), and rice and beans prepared with coconut. After guineos, the coconut rice and beans is mi favorito!
The names of many dishes are familiar but actually refer to completely different things than their Mexican cousins. For example, a taco here is more like a Mexican taquito (flour tortilla, rolled up, and fried, covered with cabbage and salsa). Other things have similar names but are different in their execution such as burritos and enchiladas.
These are dishes I have actually tried.
Baleadas- flour tortilla stuffed with usually beans and cheese. You can add eggs if you want the full package. Picture a quesadilla with a smaller thicker tortilla. Our hospital kitchen sells them for 40 cents (beans and cheese) or 75 cents (with eggs too).
Pastelitos- small filled pastries. These can be sweet or savory, depending on the filling.
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| pastelitos |
tajadas- common accompaniment to meals. They taste kind of like french fries, but are made from plantains. I've also had them as the base to the main meal, a bed of these plantains topped with ground beef and cabbage.
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| tajadas (and fish) |
guineos (I could have this name wrong...my google search reveals they may also be called tajadas)- sweet plaintains that are boiled or fried. They have a completely different flavor and texture from the plantain chips above. They are softer and much sweeter. These are some of my favorites so far!
Fried chicken is ubiquitous at fast food places here, and as a common main dish. It's pretty tasty, but nothing that different from what you would get in the States.
The Garifuna are a group of black Caribs who live on the north coast and have cuisine that is much more similar to other Caribbean groups (think Jamaican) than it is to other Latin American countries. Their specialties are seafood including grilled lobster and conch, ceviche, seafood soup (with coconut milk), and rice and beans prepared with coconut. After guineos, the coconut rice and beans is mi favorito!
