Last week I wrote about my top three restaurant recommendations when in Santiago, but this week is a little bit different! Especially after just feasting with my host-family for mother's day. This week...is about the great food you'll be getting in your home-stay.
Let's start with the obvious and most simple: palta, AKA avocado. Chile is the pioneer, champion, and all-around winner for quality of avocado. Just like the States, throw that on some toast for breakfast (my current tip is adding merken, a special spice in Chile made from dried and ground peppers from the campo). Or, add it to a salad with tomato and lemon and olive oil! Put it on a sandwich! Whatever you can think of- you can do it with the best avocado in the world! Mostly, you'll be served avocado on toast, but the sky is the limit.
Up next: the second most obvious food of Chile, empanadas. You'll be able to find this tasty pastry EVERYWHERE in Chile. Home stay included. Pino is a type of filling with meat, kind of like meat-stuffing. But if you're a vegetarian like me, you can find cheese, cheese and spinach, and cheese and mushroom. There are even vegan options if you're in the Nunoa area or Bellasartes! Both have great options. Empanadas are such a lovely and unique experience in Chile. Try deep-fried or baked and pick you're favorite. Or, ask you're host family how to make you're own! GW even offers and excursion to a cooking class. Regardless, look forward to a life of empanadas.
Lastly, we have pebre. Chileans by no means are known for their spice. They have such amazing fruits and vegetables and there's incredible amounts of fresh produce here, but if anything that just means they rely a bit more on that then on adding spices to things. BUT, do not fear, pebre salsa is here. Last weekend I hung out with my host-mom while she made it, which including blending onion, tomato, peppers, salt and oil (super easy- it took us maybe 5 minutes to make it). Pebre is specific to Chile. While different variations of salsas can be found throughout Latin America, throughout the world, pebre is Chile's and enjoy it while you can. I spoke with my host dad while I lamented that I won't be able to find Chilean peppers in the States, and he said I could use any old peppers, but definitely definitely take advantage of your access to pebre while here.
I tried to avoid talking about specific foods, because each home stay is going to be different. Each home stay will have different patterns, but each home stay will also have avocado, empanadas and pebre. Keep calm and culinary on.