Variations on the typical platter

So two Friday nights ago I had my first experience with a Honduran specialty: mondongo soup. Mondongo, often used as slang for someone who has a fat stomach, is literally the stomach of a cow. The soup made with this part is really popular in Honduras, for some reason especially on weekends. People are crazy about soup here in general, but especially for lunch and especially on Sundays. I don’t really understand it and I’m not at all a fan. That’s part of the reason I chose to make my own lunches after a week here in Cisco; I didn’t want to be paying often for soup that I didn’t want. The soup here is generally not what I like, either: very brothy, with lots of huge vegetables and little flavor. I absolutely love any kind of chowder (mmm Weezy’s corn chowder), tomato soup (mmm with unlimited grilled cheeses at the dining hall…yup, reminiscing about dining hall food), or really flavorful brothy soups (mmm Gramma’s chicken noodle). But the soup here just doesn’t compare.

I’m not sure how I lived in Honduras for four months without being offered the soup, as most of my friends tried and hated it during training, but I did. I have no issues generally with trying things like that; I don’t see how a cow stomach is different from any other internal parts. Something like a hoof or tongue or eyeball would freak me out a bit…but everything else is just cooked parts inside. You can’t tell it’s the stomach by looking at it. But anyway, my family was really excited to give me the soup and it was actually the best soup I’ve had in Honduras. It’s a little bit thicker, as I found out they add some sort of coconut/milky mix to it. The vegetables in it are pretty tasteless but the actual soup is good. Finally, I came to the mondongo part at the end. I tried eating it three times but I couldn’t actually get a bite of it. It was too tough and they didn’t give me any utensils other than a spoon. It also had a very weird texture…the closest I can compare it to is octopus (as I’ve tried in sushi and not liked); it was chewy and slimy and not appetizing.

So I honestly told my family I really loved the soup but I didn’t like the actual meat parts. This was fine with them, and they eventually just threw the meat parts (complete with my teeth prints, I’m sure, if you looked closely) back in the huge pot with the rest of the soup. They’re very cool about me being honest and telling then what I don’t like…thank god for a Honduran family like that. Luckily for both of us, there have only been a very small handful of things they’ve made me that I didn’t like. Off the top of my head, besides the mondongo in the soup, I can only think of a few things they’ve made for me that I haven’t liked: this lemon drink (I actually couldn’t even make myself take a sip of it since it smelled, strongly, exactly like Pledge), a drink made from the fruit here called nanci (it’s really gross), these weird corn and bean circle things (looked exactly like cookie dough so I think that made it worse), and tres leche cake. So really, there are almost no main foods I don’t like. I’m not a huge fan of hot dogs (the way they make them) or rice, either, but I can eat them fine.

Anyways, thinking about this blog entry made me think it might be fun to keep track of a week’s worth of meals that are cooked for me here, just to give you guys an idea of what I’m eating. I’m not sure it will be that interesting, but we’ll see. It’s funny how being here has completely robbed me of the idea of having certain meals at certain times…everything goes here and I regularly have things like beans or pasta for breakfast. The only thing I resist is drinking coffee after about 3 or so, since I want to be able to go to sleep super early. Pretty much in every other way, I’ve adapted. So here is my last week of meals, minus the lunch that I prepare myself, with a little grade on my own subjective scale:

Friday
Breakfast: cornflakes with milk (and sugar), beans, tortillas, fried platanos, 2 hot dogs (I don’t eat the hot dogs)
Dinner: mondongo soup with vegetables (didn’t eat the actual mondongo), tortillas, pinol
Grade: C+, the breakfast was great except for the hot dogs but I really just dislike getting soup in general and pinol is not my favorite drink

Saturday/Sunday
B: platanos gloria (delicious: cooked platanos with orange juice, sugar, and cinnamon), pasta in white sauce with vegetables, tortillas, coffee
D: bass (the whole fish, right there on my plate), platano chips, blended beans with a bit of queso, tortillas, lemonade
G: A-, loved the breakfast even though it’s not traditional, I love getting lemonade and coffee, and the fish is a nice variety but so hard to eat with all the bones

Monday
B: beans, tortillas, half an avocado, fried plantains, chop suey (basically lo mein, but light on the soy sauce, which is so weird since Hondurans overuse all condiments and spices and flavorings), coffee, and a small piece of sweet bread
D: super flavored beans, tortillas, delicious cooked carrots, some fairly bland beef, lemonade
G: B+, pretty great breakfast but a boring, smallish dinner

Tuesday
B: 3 enchilada/Mexican tacos (called different things everywhere) – but it’s a tortilla prepared so it’s thicker and more delicious than usual and added on top are meat (these had ground beef), vegetables, spices, and a delicious sauce made with garlic; coffee with a small piece of bread
D: weird beans (darker in color than usual and less taste even though they were flavored), tortillas, soft/smooth queso (totally different from regular queso), weird cross between hot dog/sausage (one of the few things I also got in Talanga that was better there), chamomile tea, a sweet piece of bread pastry
G: C+, a wonderful breakfast but less than mediocre dinner

Wednesday
B: 2 hot dogs (didn’t eat), mashed beans, soft/smooth queso, tortillas, pinol, sweet bread pastry (lame breakfast because my host mom made it while tending to the pulperia alone since my sister went to San Marcos)
D: pasta in white sauce with vegetables, tortilla, lemonade (said no to beans)
G: C, worst breakfast in a while, pretty good dinner

Thursday/Friday
B: rice with warm, sweet milk (I actually love this), mashed beans, piece of something super similar to avocado but with less flavor, queso, tortillas, pinol
D: fried chicken, flavored beans, tortillas, steamed vegetables, lemonade
G: B+, all pretty great besides the fried chicken

Sunday/Monday
B: 2 tortilla sandwich things (thick tortillas, warm with chopped up pieces of ham, cheese, and vegetables), coffee, piece of sweet bread
D: beans, queso, tortillas, piece of chicken (didn't have much of an appetite), lemonade
G: A-, the tortilla things were delicious and new but dinner was eh

I tried to explain everything you might not know, so let me know if something still isn’t clear. I really can’t wait for my dad to visit so he can try a lot of these things! I think he’ll love eating like a Honduran. For my lunches, if you’re curious, I usually make 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or one and something else (apple, piece of candy, soda, poptart) or a cup of noodles. If I’m out, this varies a lot, depending on where I am and how much money I feel like spending and what I’m in the mood for. I’ve only got two weeks left where I’ll definitely be living with my host family (probably more like a month or two, but still), so I’m enjoying the food while I can. I’ll start worrying about health/weight/money when I’m living alone.