My toddler, chatterbox that she is, sometimes simply doesn’t want to talk to friends, neighbors, or shopkeepers.  However, the way to her heart is through her stomach, and the one question she always answers is “tienes hambre (are you hungry?)”  Her response is a resounding “Siempre (always!)”  She is game to try just about anything, and assumes everything (even a fish head) is meant to be consumed.  This is sometimes humorous (as when she wanted to eat koi swimming in a Japanese Tea Garden), at other times concerning, but generally makes her our favorite person to cook for.  She, my husband and I, have enjoyed getting to know a few traditional Chilean foods.  Traditional as in very traditional, with ingredients such as quinoa and harina tostada (toasted flour), which have traditionally been Quechoa and Mapuche staples.

Quinoa Flowers, flickr Ola Jacobsen

I first tried quinoa, my favorite super-food, when I spent time with a host family in Arequipa, Peru in fall of 2000.  I was their guest while taking Spanish lessons, and one morning noticed that the breakfast their kids were eating looked much more appetizing than the rolls they had provided to me.  This was my first introduction to quinoa (simmered in a large pot with sugar and chocolate) and I have been hooked ever since.  Quinoa is a Quechua food which originated from the South American Andes mountain range, and quinoa itself has been around and consumed for thousands of years.  Despite its history, it is still a bit of a newcomer in the US, not yet either ubiquitous or cheap.  Since moving to Chile, we have been loading up at quinoa from our favorite naturistas, and have been enjoying both chocolate quinoa for breakfast as well as savory quinoa recipes.  Rumor has it that quinoa is also available at tostadurias,  toasting shops, which we have yet to verify.  The great thing about quinoa is that it is both a great source of protein and as easy to prepare as rice, which means that even a beginning cook like myself can use it to whip up delicious meals.

Harina Tostada, flickr jpgarnham

While quinoa has started gaining some attraction internationally, another food we’ve taken a fancy to is still very much Chilean.  My daughter, above all, loves harina tostada.  Every morning when she wakes up, she requests an ulpo, which I actually cheat and make a bit healthier than the norm.  Ulpo is the name for the beverage created when you mix milk (or water) with harina tostada (toasted wheat flour) and honey.  I make hers with milk, water, and harina tostada, explaining that she doesn’t need honey since she’s already so sweet, something she loves to repeat.  As strange as it sounds, ulpo is actually delicious and tastes like a nutty milkshake, to be consumed either hot or cold.  It is viewed as a super-food for babies and little kids, kind of like a more natural version of formula.  However, my toddler doesn’t care about any of this and just likes scooping up the bits of harina tostada that settle into the bottom of the glass, commenting every time that the flour transforms the milk into juice.  Others add the flour to wine, something the sommelier in me is a bit hesitant to do.  I think I’ll ask my husband to take up this challenge instead!  It can also be eaten with watermelon, and some rural workers bring a kilo of the flour and a thermos full of water with them as a cheap way of staying full throughout their day.  Harina tostada is made in an old-school manner, where women laboriously hand-sort and toast the wheat to sell, often for only a dollar or two, at local ferias (farmers markets.)

Learning about new foods is fun, and my toddler is enjoying being the guinea pig.  We have incorporated the traditional staples of quinoa and harina tostada into our regular routines, and are looking forward to enjoying more local delicacies, as long as they don’t include erizos!