Food of the Andes

I have never tasted a purer fish than on my trip in the Amazon. Probably since the beginning of time in the deep jungle, fish have simply been wrapped in a specific leaf and then roasted over coals. Up to this day the Kichwa people continue to prepare fish this way. The leaf they use is called “bijau” and imparts its unique flavor to the fish. In fact, cooking in leaves rather than pots is a delicious technique. Different foods are paired up with different leaves, the leaves offering their special aroma to the food.

The same thing happens in tamales, but they are much more labor intensive and always have carbohydrate dough, often with a corn base. In the jungle the purest and simplest way of using leaves was a superb treat, freshly caught fish cooked in a special leaf. That was all!

These days even in urban areas of the jungle, leaf-wrapped packets called “maytus” (more…)

WOAH!! Did I just have my eyes opened as I walked in the Amazon jungle to a yuca field, half-way hidden beneath a canopy of tall trees.  I was led in by a Huarani woman, a member of one of the tribes most recently to be touched by “civilization”.  Gami harvested the huge “hands” of brown, hairy roots pulling the 20 or 30 pound root structure from the sandy soil.  Near the field was a small lake of boas; otherwise we could have pulled up larger hands across the lake, but the bridge was broken Gami told me.

Yuca (also called cassava or manioc) is peeled and then boiled.  Once cooked soft, women chew it, spit it out and let it ferment.  With only the addition of water, it becomes a drink.  When hunting no longer provides game or fish, this yuca “chicha” becomes the mainstay of the population.  I must admit it is not my favorite and yet it is amazing how healthy the population looks, as they subsist mainly on this fermented drink.  At least It has no sugar or salt added, and is certainly not a processed product coming from the industrialized food chain.