Food

Part of any experience is the food. When you travel to Italy, you immediately think of the pasta, the pizza, or the gelato. Spain the tapas, Philadelphia, the cheese steak, Japan the sushi. It’s all about what new and exciting foods you are going to try. Belize is not much different. I was very excited to live not only in a new place, but experience a completely different diet.

The food here has been its own, somewhat lackluster adventure. The Belizeans only take so much pride in food. The food somewhat lacks in exotic spices or flavors that you would expect from such an exotic and tropical location. But the familiarity of the flavors and the repetitiveness of the diet is a comfort so far from home. Often we volunteers, on our trek to the rectory for food, joke about what our next meal shall be.

“What do you think we will eat today?”

“I don’t know, but I really hope its rice and beans.”

“Or maybe beans and rice?”

We are rarely disappointed. Beans and rice, or rice and beans (The variation comes in whether the beans are mixed with the rice or cooked separately. I have yet to learn which is which) are the staple throughout the whole of the country. And, as volunteers trying to embrace the culture, we share in this food almost everyday.

There were a few surprises on my dinner plate that I have encountered in Belize. The first is the prominence of coleslaw. I never expected to see it outside of the Midwest, let alone in Belize. I believe its prevalence comes from the ridiculous amounts of cabbage that the Belizeans consume weekly. My love affair with cabbage has been another pleasant surprise. Cabbage with the chicken, cabbage with the Chinese food, cabbage in the coleslaw, it is there and it is delicious.

My newest food love affair has been beans. I remember when I was younger and my mom would cook baked beans or put beans in the soup or the stew and I, spoiled child as I was, would pick around them and waste them. I grew out of that after spending time in the Dominican Republic and partaking in the delicious beans and rice there, but now, beans and I are practically involved. We see each other sometimes for 3 meals a day and we have become quite close. For breakfast there are beans on toast, for lunch I see beans in rice, and for dinner I see beans and scrambled eggs. When there is that rare meal where beans don’t make an appearance, I do miss them.

I suppose now is the time to mention that I eat scrambled eggs almost every night for dinner. In the states we eat our eggs for breakfast. Not here. That is strictly dinner fare. But these eggs are not just scrambled; they include peppers, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and even potatoes. I am unsure how they can make them so exquisite, but they are different every evening. (I suppose I should pause here and give praise to my momma’s eggs. I miss them. So delicious. But when in Belize…) I never thought that I would someday eat eggs, beans, rice, all mixed in a tortilla shell. But it is an excellent combination here.

With all the celebration of beans and eggs and the other Belizean..ahem..delicacies, there are a few things in the dietary world that I miss. Number one on the list is the Dairy products, especially cheese. It must be imported, therefore it is incredibly expensive. I have had cheese once since I have been here. My goal is to save up my money to buy some cheese to make a grilled cheese sandwich. It might be heaven on earth. Along with the dairy disappointments is icecream. In some parts of Belize you can get some delicious ice cream, but here in Benque, it is but a melted then refrozen scoop of bitter disappointment. Good thing they have vanilla-flavored popsicles named ‘ideals’ that only cost 25 cents to be that cool and refreshing treat I need to sustain me. The only other food item that I really miss is fresh vegetables and ranch sauce to dip them in. And chicken nuggets. But the foods I missed are compensated by the new foods I have discovered, like salbutas, chicken chow mein, and of course fresh frozen pineapple.

As far as the beverages are concerned, it is not terribly different than in the states. Coca Cola has a monopoly on the whole country, so their products are everywhere, but in glass bottles and with real sugar. Automatically an upgrade—everything tastes better from a glass bottle. They also have pineapple flavored soda, a new addiction of mine (unfortunately it will never replace my love of sweet tea, absent from all of Benque). The last noteworthy beverage is a bag of water. Yes you read it correctly, bag of water. It is a plastic bag of water, you bit a hole in the corner, and you drink it. Genius, pure genius.