Eating Local

Those of you who know me know that I travel a lot for business, all over the globe.  This sounds really cool, and it is fun for a while.  Then it can get pretty monotonous if you get lazy and let it – the lobby of the Hilton in Buenos Aires looks exceptionally similar to the lobby of the Hilton in Prague.  The Trader Vic’s in the New Otani hotel in Tokyo serves pretty much the same food as the Trader Vic’s in the Radisson Blu in Hamburg.  

One of the ways that I try to keep things interesting is to not eat in the hotel if at all possible.  Nearly everywhere locals are proud of their food traditions and when asked are happy to send you out for some of their favorite local dishes.  This has led to some **interesting** meals (more on that in another post), but most often I have had a memorable time and learned something about the food and culture of the place I am visiting.  When you order a Marriott Burger from room service in Heidelberg you won’t learn much, other than that you can get the same burger in Detroit.    

So this all leads me to a recent trip to Santiago, Chile.  I will start by admitting that I broke my first rule and had breakfast in the hotel (it was included in the room rate and I was running late…).  Hoping for some interesting Chilean breakfast specialty, I checked out the buffet.  Right there with the scrambled eggs, potatoes and fruit salad that I find everywhere, was this:

Yep, that is cut up hot dogs.  Nothing more.  The kind of thing you might mix into some mac and cheese for the kids.  Of course I had to try them, hoping that there was something more to this.   Nope.  OK bad sign, but I figured, shame on me for eating in the hotel.

At the office that day I asked a few local colleagues about Chilean food-- what are the specialties, what is good, where to find it.  Generally I was answered with a question: "Have you tried a pisco sour?"   Apparently there is great rivalry between Chile and Peru over the best and proper way to make a pisco sour.  Essentially it is a drink made with Pisco (a liquor distilled from grapes, much like grappa), lime juice, simple syrup, an egg white and a garnish of bitters on top of the egg foam.  (Chilean and Peruvian recipes here) Local pride being strong, they insisted theirs was the true recipe.  Still no word on the food though.

On my last night in town, my hosts wanted to take me out to dinner.  They asked if I had any preferences and I once again inquired about Chilean food.  With furrowed brows they looked at each other and responded in unison, "mmm, no.  Chilean food is terrible.  Let's have Peruvian."   OK that was settled, but they agreed to stop at a bar first to let me try a Chilean Pisco Sour.  

At the Peruvian place we had a great meal.  Lots of seafood, terrific ceviche, tasty empanadas, and a couple Peruvian pisco sours.  Best meal I had in Santiago.  And the Peruvian pisco was better, too.