I don’t know much about Central America, but I’d like to know more. This is a first step:
Honduras, officially Republic of Honduras, Spanish República de Honduras, country of Central America situated between Guatemala and El Salvador to the west and Nicaragua to the south and east. The Caribbean Sea washes its northern coast, the Pacific Ocean its narrow coast to the south. Its area includes the offshore Caribbean department of the Bay Islands. The capital is Tegucigalpa (with Comayagüela), but—unlike most other Central American countries—another city, San Pedro Sula, is equally important industrially and commercially, although it has only half the population of the capital.
www.britannica.com/...
A short [1:47] talk about the Honduran Spanish accent.
Honduran cuisine is a fusion of indigenous Lenca cuisine, Spanish cuisine, Caribbean cuisine and African cuisine. There are also dishes from the Garifuna people. Coconut and coconut milk are featured in both sweet and savory dishes. Regional specialties include fried fish, tamales, carne asada and baleadas.
en.wikipedia.org/...
Baleadas for breakfast or dinner. You can find recipes on YT for making your own tortillas; I like her version (buy them!) but traditional ones would be a bit thicker [5:38]:
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Have you ever had yuca (aka cassava)? Around here, it is (mashed, I guess, then) stuffed with ground beef and formed into a long, well, banana-shaped thing and deep-fried. I love it. The bakery where I used to get it was apparently a victim of covid (a lot of their business involved supplying bread to restaurants, so, oops) but someone told me recently that the little restaurant on the corner makes them too. But I’ll tell you, I miss that bakery like crazy. They had the best cheesecake! And awesome coconut macaroons.
There are many comidas típicas (“typical foods”) associated with the various regions of the country, including sopa de hombre (“man’s soup”) and other seafood dishes in the south, queso con chile (“cheese with chili peppers”) in the west, and cazabe (mashed cassava) among Garifuna in the north. Found throughout the country are such dishes as tamales and yuca con chicharrón (fried cassava and pork). Among the poor the dietary staple is corn, often eaten as tortillas. Beans, cassava, plantains, and rice are common, but meat and green vegetables are not.
www.britannica.com/...
So I really wanted to include a yuca recipe, and yuca con chicharron seemed like a perfect choice! Britannica translated the name wrong, however: chicharron are fried pork rinds. Anyway, I hope you understand Spanish — couldn’t find a video for the Honduran version in English. Well, you can get the basics from watching, anyway [3:04]:
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Honduras Independence Day festivities start early in the morning with marching bands. Each band wears different colors and features cheerleaders. Fiesta Catracha takes place this same day: typical Honduran foods such as beans, tamales, baleadas, cassava with chicharrón, and tortillas are offered.
On Christmas Eve people reunite with their families and close friends to have dinner, then give out presents at midnight. In some cities fireworks are seen and heard at midnight. On New Year's Eve there is food and "cohetes", fireworks and festivities. Birthdays are also great events, and include piñatas filled with candies and surprises for the children.
en.wikipedia.org/...
At last! A recipe for two, instead of 40! 😁 This looks amazing...for a special occasion, or if you’re really in the mood to cook. Pollo con Tajadas [12:59]:
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Agriculture in Mesoamerica was advanced and complex. A great many crops were planted, of which corn, beans, and squashes were the most important. In the highlands, hoe cultivation of more or less permanent fields was the rule, with such intensive forms of agriculture as irrigation and chinampas (the so-called floating gardens reclaimed from lakes or ponds) practiced in some regions.
www.britannica.com/...
Oh, tripe! They don’t seem to use the honeycomb version, although I can’t quite be certain — I’ve never worked with tripe in my life, only have seen it for sale.
Sopa de Mondongo or intestine soup is one of traditional Honduran dishes. It is made from diced tripe (very well cleaned stomach of a cow) slow-cooked with vegetables. The organs and feet are cooked until they are soft and flavorful (although a smidgen chewy). At the very end vegetables like potatos, yucca, plantain, cabbage, corn, bell peppers, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, cilantro or garlic are added. The result is a heaping bowl of delightful intestine and veggie stew.
Tripe might be difficult to cook because it must be cleaned very well, flavor might be off (rough or sour if not cooked properly), and it requires long cooking time. If cooked correctly this dish brings the true goodness of the tripe. This recipe is a perfect example on how something like stomach lining can be changed and made tasty.
greathonduranfood.com/...
This video is quite interesting, if you want to feed an army with mondongo [9:55]:
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Futbol!
Football (soccer) is a passion for many Hondurans. There is scarcely a village that does not sponsor a team or club at some level of competition, and international matches often arouse great emotion. The national team has remained a strong contender; it advanced to the semifinals in the 1998 World Cup, and it took second place at the 1999 Pan American Games after defeating the United States, Uruguay, Cuba, Jamaica, and Canada in turn.
www.britannica.com/...
Pork chops with plantain chips [4:18]:
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Remember Copan, the Mayan site in Honduras?
Maya art, at the height of its development, was fundamentally unlike any other in Mesoamerica, for it was highly narrative, baroque, and often extremely cluttered, unlike the more austere styles found elsewhere. It is essentially a painterly rather than sculptural tradition, and it is quite likely that even stone reliefs were first designed by painters. Much of this art has disappeared for all time because of the ravages of the wet, tropical environment on such perishable materials as wood, painted gourds, feathers, bark, and other substances. There must have been thousands of bark-paper codices, not one of which has survived from Classic times.
Following the downfall of Teotihuacán, Maya artists were free to go their own way. Magnificently carved stelae and accompanying altars are found at most major sites, the greatest achievement in this line being found at Copán, where something approaching three-dimensional carving was the rule.
www.britannica.com/...
Honduran enchiladas:
Honduran enchiladas look more like tostadas to me, but what do I know? [4:54]
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So come on in and grab a cuppa...
...and a nice nosh…
...and join us!
New Day Cafe is an open thread. What do you want to talk about today?