You People Eat This Stuff?!?

I realize it is the end of January, but I wanted to touch briefly on our recent holiday trip to Piriapolis. We spent a lovely Christmas with a nice mix of expats and locals. There were great conversations, fireworks on the beach, music and general merriment. Like most holidays this one was all about the food, but with a different twist.

For starters, our Christmas Eve meal was a real treat for the expats...a Mexican food feast comprised of soft hamburger tacos, jalapenos, guacamole, Doritos chips and refried beans. It was met with a great deal less enthusiasm by the locals. The basic Uruguayan diet consists mainly of bland foods, so even the slightest hint of spice in the taco seasoning was overwhelming to native tastebuds. And the guacamole...they couldn't get their minds around this mushy green dip that is so revered by those of us from the Northern Hemisphere. Not easily daunted, we tried to win them over yet again.

The next day, our Christmas dinner consisted of all things American...turkey, dressing, green bean casserole and fruit ambrosia. Favorite expat holiday dishes all suited to the North American palette. Little did we know these familiar menu choices would also be considered exotic to the locals.

The one brave soul tried every dish we offered up and was extremely gracious in saying it was all very tasty. Others were not so adventurous...to them the taste and the texture of the turkey was strange. The green bean casserole went untouched. I'm not sure what they thought of the dressing. Probably not much. The ambrosia was acceptable, but only as a dessert. Uruguayans never mix sweet and savory foods on the same plate. So I guess cranberry sauce with the turkey would have been a big no-no! Good news is you can't find cranberries in Uruguay.

Our breakfasts however, were a perfect melding of the cultures. Toast, butter (lots of butter) marmalade, American coffee sweetened with freshly whipped heavy cream and of course, mate (see my post of 7/2/09.)

As with all great American holiday meals there are always leftovers. We expats left it to the local contingent to come up with subsequent meals featuring the massive amount of leftover turkey. Turnabout is fair play. They ate our food, now we try theirs.

I am pleased to say their creativity in the kitchen was the crowning touch to our weekend festivities. They prepared a wonderful turkey casserole with bite-sized bits of turkey, rice, potatoes and hard boiled eggs. The dish was warm, filling and delicious. The same casserole is also designed to be eaten cold, which we did for our next meal. It was served with a fresh tomato and cucumber salad topped with a chimichurri of olive oil, oregano, basil and salt.

The leftover green bean casserole and dressing were shared among the expats. The ambrosia was, of course, served separately as a dessert.

I would like to thank our Uruguayan friends for being such good sports and teaching this expat a thing or two about cultural differences. It was a truly unique Christmas that will always hold a special place in my heart.