Part of me was dreading Bolivian food. We hadn't heard a single good thing about it. We'd been told that it was boring, uninspiring, and likely to make you seriously ill. Even Lonely Planet had little good to say. So it was with great apprehension that we ordered our first Bolivian meal, at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere in Tupiza, and with caution that we raised our forks to our mouths.
Well, what can I say? There must be something seriously wrong with all those other travellers – with their taste buds, digestive systems and their attitude to food in general. Bolivian food was fantastic – I'd go as far as to put it in my Top 3 (along with India & Thailand). We ate the majority of our meals in markets and from street stalls, and got the chance to try so many new things, each one as delicious as the last. And so cheap too! So many people stay well clear of market food for fear of becoming ill. These people are seriously missing out.
La Chacra – this was our first proper meal in Bolivia, in a little town called Tupiza. La Chacra is a restaurant that opens only on Sundays to serve good, cheap, traditional Bolivian food. People come from miles around to eat there. Karl had chicken and cow tongue in a spicy sauce, served with potatoes, chunos (little black potatoes) and salad. I had barbecued goat, potatoes and white beans. The food was spectacular. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Bolivian food.
Pollo Picante – This is chicken in a South American-style curry sauce. It wasn't spicy, but it was incredibly flavourful. We had it at a little stall outside the train station in Tupiza, and it cost about 3pounds.
Api – This is a hot breakfast drink made from purple maize and flavoured with lemon, sugar and cinnamon. Tastes like Christmas in a mug.
Buñuelos – Eaten with api, buñuelos are deep-fried, doughnut-like pastries drizzled with syrup. Not the healthiest breakfast, I know, but so so good.
Fried trout – Apparently Lake Titicaca is known for its trout. We had some at a restaurant by the waterfront, which was pretty nice. But the next day we decided to give the market version a try, and it was a million times better. She battered and fried it in front of us, and served it up with rice, homemade chips, salad and chilli sauce.
Fruit boat – A healthy dessert. Yummy fresh fruit (watermelon, mango, pineapple, papaya, kiwi & strawberry), covered in fruit yoghurt, with a squirt of fresh cream and a sprinkling of coconut. Oh, and a cherry on top, of course.
Jelly desserts – Less healthy desserts, these are basically jellies that taste like sweets. The yellow and brown one tastes like custard and chcocolate. The dark traffic light one is strawberry and bubblegum, and the light traffic light one is sort of sherbet flavoured.
Salteñas – These aren't too disimilar to the empanadas we'd had in Chile and Argentina. Pastries filled with meat and vegetables. Great snack, especially with chilli sauce and a glass of Coke.
Chorizo sandwiches – This is one of the best things we've eaten on our entire trip, we had it at the market in Sucre three mornings in a row, even though it gave us the most awful garlic burps for hours afterwards. Super-fresh chorizo, fried up and served in a bun with salad, pickled red onions, fresh chillies and mayonnaise. They even dip the bread in the chorizo juices first. It was savoury, tangy and spicy, absolutely incredible. My mouth waters just looking at the photo again. It cost 2pounds for two! Why can't we get food like this in England?
Hot market drinks – Chorizo sandwiches were followed up by mysterious hot drinks at another stall. It was almost like watching an alchemist, with the lady mixing together different coloured liquids and syrups and powders (we still don't know what any of them were) to create unusual but delicious hot drinks.
Fried potato cakes – Another breakfast dish, these were being fried up and served at a road-side stall in Uyuni. There was a round one with an egg in the middle, and a flat one which was potato, frankfurter sausage and vegetables. You get one of each on a plate with some shredded salad and chilli sauce.
Peach juice - In some Bolivian markets they have drinks stalls selling all manner of fruit juices. One of the best was the peach juice, which isn't actually fresh peach but tinned. The juice itself is a sweet and refreshing peach nectar, and at the bottom is half a tinned peach. It's absolutely delicious (unless you don't like tinned peaches).
Peru
We didn't get to try quite as many amazing new dishes in Peru, but I think that's mainly because we were in much more touristy towns like Cusco (near Machu Picchu) and Lima (the capital). There weren't as many markets and street stalls, and most of our meals were eaten in touristy restaurants. The food in these places was still really good, just not quite as exciting. If we'd had more time to explore, I'm sure we'd have found plenty of delicious treats.
Ceviche – Ceviche is raw fish and seafood marinated in citrus juices, usually with flavourings like coriander and fresh chilli. The acidity from the juices starts to cook the fish, but it's only added just before serving so that it doesn't cook too much. We had ceviche in a few different places, and it was always amazing. In Peru they serve it with dried corn kernels, sweet potato and lettuce. If you're not afraid of raw fish, I'd definitely recommend this. In my opinion, it's even better than sushi.
Punto Azul – Ok, so this is actually ceviche again, just somewhere different. We read about a restaurant called Punto Azul in Lima and decided to try it out. Turns out it's really really popular, and we ended up waiting almost an hour and a half to be seated. I don't think I've ever bothered to wait that long for food, but this was definitely worth it, and not just because portions were big enough to take leftovers home for dinner! Karl ordered their special ceviche, which comes covered in a tangy red sauce. I had a hot dish of seafood cooked in a tomato and cheese sauce – it's not the sort of thing I'd normally go for but it was amazing.
Sushi – Even though it's not quite as good as ceviche, I'll still always love sushi. Lima's right by the coast, so the seafood is really fresh, and it just made sense to make the most of this and splash out on some sushi. It was one of our last dinners abroad, so we treated ourselves to a big sharing platter and stuffed ourselves. We overate and went home feeling like we could quite happily never eat seafood again. Less than 24-hours later we were craving ceviche again.
Chicha – We had this to drink with our meal at Punto Azul. Before we went, people had recommended drinking beer with ceviche. But when we got there, everyone seemed to be drinking a strange, dark purple drink. Naturally we joined in and ordered a big jug. Turns out it's quite like a cold version of that api drink we had for breakfast in Bolivia. It's really refreshing with ice.
Juice of quinoa, maize, apple and pineapple – We first tried this hot breakfast drink at a stall in Bolivia, but the best version we had was in Peru. It's the colour of cloudy apple juice, and quite thick and juicy like a smoothie, very filling.
Potato & egg breakfast – Quite a simple meal, served by a woman on a street who has a basket full of boiled potatoes and eggs. She peels both and chops them into a little bowl. You can then add salt and coriander sauce to your liking.
Inka Cola – A luminous yellow fizzy drink with a bubblegum flavour (nothing like Cola really). Wish they had it at home.
Potato and fried cheese – This was a snack that we bought at a bus station on our way from Bolivia to Peru. It was the middle of the afternoon and we hadn't eaten a thing since our early breakfast that morning. This snack comes in a plastic bag, and it's just boiled potatoes and chunos (those black potatoes), and a big flat circle of fried cheese. You get a little bag of chilli and coriander sauce to pour over it. So tasty, especially when you're starving.
Fish & lentils – Another amazing market meal. It was a two-course set meal, cost about 3pound between us. The starter was a tasty potato soup with chunks of delicious fatty pork. The main was fried fish served with lentils, salad, rice and a wedge of lemon.
Oh, and one last thing. We were only in Argentina for five days, so we didn't get the chance to sample much there. But one thing we did try and love was tamales. They are a corn-based snack with a meat, potato and chilli filling. The whole thing is wrapped, steamed and served inside corn husks. Like a delicious little parcel, mmm mmm.
So that brings us to the end of our food adventures. We've had plenty of great food experiences, and some absolutely outstanding ones. We hope you've enjoyed reading about them. After eating our way around three continents, we're now rediscovering the joys of home food. Good cheddar, pork pies, our favourite chilli sauce, proper tea, home-cooked curries, toast with marmite! God, I love food.
