A Word on the Food

It's hard to know where to begin to describe the food in a country especially when I have only actually eaten in one place which is the seminary.  Firstly, my hat is off to the ladies in the kitchen who cook three times a day for a group of almost sixty people.  I can tell you, the heat and humidity outside pales in comparison to the conditions these women work under.  I have only walked through the kitchen to get a cup or a glass but it feels as if I were walking right through the oven - or, more accurately, a boiling pot (it's incredibly humid).  How they remain even tempered - how they don't just go to pieces is beyond me.  And the food is good, much better than I expected it to be.  Obviously, some things are more appealing than others but that's in the order of things.

Rice is the staple and appears at the midday meal (around 12.45) and the evening meal (around 6). When I asked if there were days when they didn't eat rice they looked at me "with pity in their eyes". The food isn't terribly  (in terms of temperature) but, if you have been to hot countries you will agree with me, it doesn't seem to be an issue.  In Ireland we expect food to be as hot as when it left the pot or the oven whereas here they don't seem to mind at all.  The food, in fact, could be sitting on the table for up to ten minutes before everyone has arrived to say the grace before meals and then dig in.

Mind you, the Panamanians certainly don't just dig in.  They have a very gentle and mannerly way about them at the table.  They seem very careful to ensure that everyone has enough and they leave the place as if no one had been there.  I don't know if this is true of every where in Panama but it is certainly true of here.  Mind you, this is a house with over 50 young fellas and if they can all behave so well I suspect it may be something that is common in Panamanian homes.

One thing that stands out here is that they eat a lot of meat (with the exception of Friday when it has been egg and fish).  There is meat even at breakfast - not a huge amount, but it's there every day.  Most of it is very tasty but we did have one day when it was extremely tough -  I suppose that can happen!!!  Chicken seems to be popular and they also seem to go for lentils and beans quite often (to "wet" the rice).

I had expected the diet to have a lot of spicy food but, while spice (picante) is availble to add to your food (and I do like my spice!!!) it is easy to avoid.  They tell me that they eat a lot of maize but there has not been very much of that this week anyway.  Seafood and fish are also important here but we only had seafood one day (I imagine it could be expensive to feed so many young fellas with seafood).

At breakfast, apart from the meat, there is bread and coffee.  A lot of the young lads go for what they call Quacker (better known to us as Quaker oats, Flahavan's if you are Irish, and porridge).  What I find curious is that they cook the oats a lot less than us and they end up in a sort of gloopy liquid.  They strain off a lot of this "water" and drink it and eat the rest - I have no intention of trying this - it looks absolutely gross, but they seem to love it.

Another thing that surprised me here is that jam is served in a sort of pouch or reinforced plastic bag (not a jar) that has a screw on lid.  You squeeze the pouch/ bag which is about the same size as one of those ready made soup things (in fact, it's a very similar container), and the jam comes out in a way not unlike toothpaste.  I think it is a great idea: no waste; no dirt from knives left in the jar; no jam going watery; and, especially here, no ants in the jam!!!  If you are from North America and reading this then jam is jelly; if you're from Ireland and going to North America jelly is jello - if you can't follow this just stick with Mom's apple pie and you can't go too wrong.

On the subject of jam, however I did see something that made me feel positively queasy.  I was at the table one morning when one of the guys was sitting down to a bowl of cornflakes.  Instead of adding milk he poured jam over the flakes and began to eat them - definitely not for me!!!

Tap water here is drinkable - I have been drinking it and have not had any negative or explosive reaction from either end - if you follow my drift... They also drink a lot of fruit juice but fresh fruit doesn't seem to feature strongly - again, I suspect this is probably because of the numbers involved in catering for the seminarians.

Anyway I hope that gives you a flavour of the flavours - if you know what I mean.  If anything odd appears on the table you will be the first to know.  As usual, all comments are welcome.  I'm off now to get ready for supper after which we are going out for a drive somwhere.
N