I just thought I'd share some interesting experiences I had while travelling in South America. I spent time in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. I really enjoyed the food while I was there.

In Bolivia, once a week they'd block off a street and tons of food vendors would bring all sorts of stuff and lay it out on the side of the street on cloths or in buckets or barrels. It was absolutely beautiful to see all these piles of fruits, vegetables, spices, nuts and (non-Paleo) grains and beans. The colours were gorgeous and all the food was very fresh and grown within the country. So much more inviting to be wandering around in the fresh air, sunshine and people than pushing a shopping cart inside a temperature controlled, fluorescent lighted, processed foods box store! In fact in smaller towns there weren't any supermarkets! Prepacked meats and veggies were unheard of and stories were told about the crazy supermarkets in (more affluent) Argentina.

There were also meat markets that sold all kinds of meats from various animals (mostly beef, chicken, fish and pork) but you could get any part of the animal you want and you would specify to the vendor what part of the meat you wanted. There would be a huge slab of animal hanging on the wall and you pointed to what you wanted. You could get any internal organs you wanted too.

I also went to a few traditional barbecues that they called a "parillada". They would bbq almost an entire animal and serve it on a plate in the middle of the table and everyone would take slices of whatever they wanted. There was tripe, kidney, liver, and other organ names that I couldn't translate!

Another time I went to a really really small village that basically survives on subsistence farming. We roasted an entire pig over the fire. They served gigantic quantities of pork with tons of fat still on it. They'd even eat the skin, which kind of freaked me out, because there were little black bristles in it still! They also would suck the eyeballs and brains out of the head of fish because "it has the most fat in it". Obviously they appreciate their fat!

The people of Bolivia eat amazing amounts of meat, and they are definately thinner than people in Canada where I live. I was a GIANT when I was there, and I'm average for where I come from. Anyhow I really miss the access to all that amazing fresh food and naturally raised meat.

Anyone else have any stories to share?

arcticslug,

Thanks so much for sharing this... this is very informative! It only goes further to prove that humans ate the innards of animals, and considered them the most nutrient dense (which they are!). And, here in the U.S. they are thrown away! With corporate production of food we have gotten so far away from what is healthy... to very unhealthy foods that are solely based around profits!

Arctic, thanks for sharing those wonderful stories!

Here in Spain people are not very squeemish about eating practically everything that you can get from a pig. We eat it all, using different parts for differently prepared things. I have a bag of frozen pig's snout in my freezer right now. I also have frozen tripe and trotters. They are absolutely delicious. The snout is chopped up into small bite sized pieces and cooked over a BBQ grill. The tripe is prepared with a rich tomato sauce and lots of spices like paprika. Trotters are made over a grill, BBQ'd or with a garlic sauce. No butter is used in cooking, only olive oil or lard.
These are all traditional dishes, BTW. Lots of lovely fat and spices. yum!

We also have street markets where you can buy local produce like fresh veggies and fruit. They are usually held on Sundays and all the locals go.

Of course, there are huge supermarkets too, with all the modern pros and cons, but a lot of people still like to be SERVED and pick and choose their food. In any supermarket there is a butcher's section where the butcher serves you the meat you want. You point it out and he gives you the exact piece and amount you want.

Some of the best places I went to that had markets like the ones you describe are in Tunisia and Turkey. They have all the food in the street and it's beautiful. You can even choose a chicken or small bird and they give it to you live (or kill it there). Unfortunately a lot of Westerners were shocked at this and some ladies were thoroughly repulsed. These are the same people that think nothing of eating meat in a restaurant. It seems that some people don't want to make the connection between the original animal and the fact that it has to die for them to enjoy eating it! LOL. Any thoughts?

I think it just is so obvious that America is so obsessed with weight, diets all the time, yet struggles with such high obesity rates and then you go to other countries and you don't see as many obese people at all.

I have been to Prague, Czech Republic and in their grocery stores they have everything very fresh - meats (they do eat cheeses), they have breads but alot of it is unsprouted fermented. They also drink a kind of drink called Kvass (as they do in Russia) which is a fermented drink that helps digestion because it is full of good bacteria that helps fight off infections, etc.

My sister lived in Brazil for a year on business and they are famous for their Churascos (spelling) huge barbecues where they roast a whole side of beef on a spit. They are just like Argentina in that they are famous for their cattle herds.

In the Carribean, on most of the islands I have been to (Cayman, Antigua, barbados, St. Martten, St. Lucia, St. Johns) they eat alot of seafood. In fact when I was in Cayman Islands, my weight dropped down way too low because practically all I wanted to eat was Shrimp, Prawns, Lobster - for every meal - I love it!!!

Canadians don'/t diet too much. When I was up in Whistler, Canada one winter we had dinner in one of the towns restaurants that was French Fondue style. We had cheese fondue with meat cubes and about 3 bottles of wine (for 4 people). I felt great!! No indigestion or anything. I think it had something to do with eating the cheese with the wine.

That's the other thing - traditional ways of combining foods have been lost in America - the old ways are the right ways because foods were paired together for good digestion and flavor etc. Here in the states - it's usually what is convenient from a box or whatever - awful.

Someday soon I want to go to Sweden to see where my grandparents came from and then also to France & Italy!!

Nela, I have been to Spain and absolutely LOVED it. I remember going to a famous market downtown Barcelona...can't remember what it was called - but they had all kinds of food. It was amazing. You guys eat so well. And the WINE! So tasty. I also loved the atmosphere of just relaxing, drinking wine/coffee/beer outside on a patio and watching the people go by. So low stress. And the people are beautiful and very stylish! One thing I didn't try was the "huevos de torro". Have you ever had that?

Hey Arctic!

I know that market very well! It's absolutely amazing. Yes, food is very important here, and most people are food snobs (but in a good way. LOL)

I haven't tried any huevos de toro, but I'll check them out.

It's very unusual to see a truly obese person here, BTW. Some people are overweight, but you just don't see very obese people...must be the Mediterranean diet. If you walk along a street you mainly see slim people, and all young people have nice figures.
Take care now.