Okay, so I've been in Patagonia about a week. I am now an expert on patagonian gastronomy. This means I feel absolutely confident that I can speak with great authority on what the senoras of the rooms-for-rent houses offer for breakfast.

For starters, at breakfast there is a choice of tea or coffee. When we speak of coffee, I must make it clear that, as in ALL of Latin America, coffee is synonymous with Nescafe. (I can visualize readers cringing). How ironic that in some of these countries that proudly grow coffee beans, they are harvested almost exclusively for export while the locals drink Nescafe. One often has to go to a special cafe in the inner city catering to gringos to get real coffee.

Instead of offering brewed coffee, in the fancy restaurants, they bring you 3 china bowls, one containing sugar, one milk, and one, containing Nescafe, together with a thermos of hot water. You can then mix to taste. What a disservice to the porcelain! In the restaurants I am more accustomed to, they bring you a jar of Nescafe with a spoon already in it (maybe dry).

The breakfast bread is usually something called hallullas (pronounced (usually) ah-jew-jahs). They look like an oversized english muffin but the interior is more like an American hamburger bun; unless it's a couple of days old, in which case it might have a texture more like a bagel. It's relatively flavor-less, which means it needs a lot of help from what you put on top of it. I get the impression native Chilenos think hallullas are a delight; no doubt for the same reason Mexicanos think bolillos are wonderful. Oh well.

The bottom line is: that's it for breakfast: a hallulla and a cup of Nescafe. Frequently, they don't eat next until the main meal of the day sometime around 2 o'clock. No wonder they break down and eat german pastry ("kuchen", directly from the German) at about 11 in the morning. This has apparently grown into a national habit so one can see signs in front of restaurants offering "11's," (onces), where one can eat pastry and drink another cup of Nescafe. Still no fruit or veggies (unless there's sweetened fruit in the kuchen).

It seems like the locals lean toward ham and cheese. It also seems like the ham and cheese sandwich is to be found absolutely everywhere in south america. I've heard it said that in Venezuela, if they should ever run out of ham and cheese, the country will starve. The ladies of the rooms-for-rent houses know the habits of their clientele. When the gringos arrive, out comes jam for breakfast with the hallullas; when the chilenos or argentinos arrive, out comes the ham and cheese. Most gringos, like me, buy their own fruit in the market, and break it out at breakfast time. It seems to me that meat is real big in Patagonia; not so much the fruit or vegetables. That could very well be because we are quite far away from the tropics and there's no easy road access to anywhere. There are some (very small) pineapples, and few or no bananas. But as in northern climes, there are lots of apples! Also, some goodies like yucca, quinoa, and the ubiquitous potato. There is fruit to be found in the fruit markets, however limited. It's kind of disappointing when you're presented with a small dish of canned fruit cocktail as the dessert in the menu of the day. The menu of the day will include meat and potatoes (french fries or mashed), but probably no other veggies. I must emphasize here I'm speaking of the gastronomic fare in Patagonia alone. Chile is about as long latitudinally, as the US is wide longitudinally (repeat that phrase 3 times rapidly!), which means the food is going to differ dramatically from one end to the next; kind of like comparing Canada with Mexico.

For the main meal, the choice here in Patagonia is usually lamb or fish. I'm talking about restaurants that offer a "menu of the day," or "home style cooking." There's always the upscale restaurant that will offer steak and french fries. I only know about them from the signs out front. Unfortunately, like coffee, many fishermen sell their catch only to foreign (as in German!) export companies that fly it to Europe. Of course, one can always order a ham and cheese sandwich, or the infamous hamburger, hot dog, or pizza.
When the German and Scotch immigrants arrived here one to two hundred years ago to seek their fortune, they opened up estancias, or large cattle/sheep ranches. They needed cowboys (huasos) to herd the animals, so they imported them from the Chilean island of Chiloe (which I hope to travel to shortly!). Many of the working class here in Patagonia are descended from these original mestizo migrant workers from Chiloe who learned to be cowboys. As a result, many of the culinary offerings here have a heavy Chiloe influence. Today I ate (I didn't know it at the time) a soup (it was more like a stew) made of lamb (as always) with seaweed. Yes, you read that correctly....and it was delicious! (sopa de luche). Okay, all you sushi lovers, you can stop laughing at me; but other than wrapped around sushi, I don't think I would go out of my way to eat seaweed. However, the seaweed in this stew was surprisingly mild. At first I thought it was kale, but it was much too mild for kale. Mixed with it were rice, carrots, corn, and potatoes (veggies!), and a large piece of lamb. I think I've eaten more lamb in the last week than I have in the previous 3 years. It's a good thing, in hindsight, that my dictionary didn't offer the chilean word for seaweed or I might not have ordered it. I'm now told that Chiloe offers many interesting cooking surprises! I'm looking forward to finding out. It's always good to order stew since there's a better chance of getting some veggies that way.

One thing definitely needs to be mentioned and that is that chilean beer is outstanding! Even the cheaper supermarket brands are on a par, in my book, with California micro-breweries. I haven't tried the wine yet. Remember, we're still talking Patagonia. As I get farther north and to warmer climes (doesn't that sound funny?), I'm looking forward to sampling chilean wines.

The most popular fish here seems to be hake, which I don't think we have in California. It's relatively mild; therefore to my taste. The locals complain that salmon is hard to get, because the fishermen sell it to the export companies.

Hasta luego, and bon apetit!