Living in Patagonia

Gourmet and Organic Food in Patagonia

We love food, especially my toddler. When we’re not making food or eating it, she adores pretending to either make or eat food, often with some very interesting flavor combinations. Last week, after learning that paella is a popular dish in Spain, looking at pictures of it online and having me describe it to her, she decided to pretend to make paella for “her man” (aka daddy), though using couscous instead of rice. Given that this is how we pass our time, it should be no surprise to anyone that among her favorite activities are visiting the food co-op, the artisan bread store, and the gourmet shop.

La Manzana Co-Op in Valdivia

We were pretty excited to learn about the co-op, as it is the only place in Valdivia to consistantly find organic food. The co-op, whose official name is Cooperativa de Consumo Responsable La Manzana (Vicente Pérez Rosales 787, Valdivia), has only been around for a year, and already offers some really interesting products. We have enjoyed trying a few local specialties such as ajo chilote (shallot-like garlic from the Chilean island of Chiloé), Chilean hazelnuts (sadly, not the same thing as European hazelnuts), quinoa-based detergent, and luche (local algae). However, we really joined the co-op for the organic carrots, which are nearly addictive and which require five minutes washing per carrot to remove all of the dirt! The co-op has limited hours, and makes shopping fun in that every Wednesday they email members a list of available products, which we fill out and email back to ensure availability of the products of interest, which we can then come and pick up on Saturday. Come pick-up time we can socialize with other members and their kids, sample a few goodies, and generally feel the excitement start to build as we image the deliciousness in store for us once we get back home with our bag full of organic treasures.

Slow-fermented, natural yeast bread in Valdivia

Through the co-op, we learned of an artisan German bread-maker in Valdivia who opened a retail location just last month called El Canelo (Camilo Henriquez 726, Valdivia.) She is making a bread using native yeasts, wheat flour, sesame seeds, flax seeds, and poppy seeds that is so delicious we have decided to quit making bread at home. Well, it is that delicious, though the other half of the story is that we’ve had outrageously high gas bills lately and suspect our oven is the culprit; so we’re taking a month off from bread-making and enjoying El Canelo’s amazing bread. My toddler, besides loving the bread, loves going to buy it since this means she’ll get to try “samples” of cookies, more cookies, crackers, and more crackers. This shop also carries some interesting products, sometimes has a little bit of house-made ricotta available (only on Fridays!), and sells some cured meats and Spanish jams (we’ve been enjoying a bitter orange jam from Seville.)

The third fun, delicious place we enjoy visiting is the gourmet shop that has a bit of everything. You can sit down for coffee and a baklava (we did, of course!) before purchasing kitchen supplies, a prosciutto bone (yes, we bought one!), jams, salts, mushroom-preserved cheeses, or ingredients for Peruvian or Arabic cooking. Since interesting and imported ingredients aren’t easy to come by in a small town in Patagonia, this store, called Terralia (San Carlos 169, Valdivia), is quite a treat for us. They opened last year, and appear to be the only Slow Food member in Valdivia. When we visited on Saturday, the enthusiastic owner offered helpful advice on recipe suggestions and techniques, but the highlight was our discovery of the spicy yellow sauce called aji amarillo (yellow pepper sauce) which is the backbone of Peruvian classics such as aji de gallina and papas a la Huancaina, two dishes I fondly remember from my stay in Lima ten years ago.

Lunchtime with a pulled pork sandwich with Peruvian aji amarillo sauce, cebollinos and apple chips

Overall, yesterday was a very good day for our family, both in general (a sunny day spent together) and from a food-focused perspective. After heading to the co-op to pick up our goodies, we stopped at the gourmet store for coffee and picked up the Peruvian aji amarillo sauce, then headed home for a delicious lunch. My husband, our chef, whipped up his take on a spicy, organic Peruvian sandwich incorporating many of our new goodies: braised and pulled pork sandwich in Peruvian aji amarillo sauce with cebollino and apple chips. Paired, of course, with a crisp Chilean Sauvignon Blanc (2010 Quintay Clava Sauv Blanc from Casablanca Valley.) Not a bad day at all, and a tasty welcome to Spring in Valdivia.

Little Men, Chile Forums, and Sunny Days

I would like to say that it was when I realized that I was spending too much time online that I began really living. However, this realization just came today, and as soon as I finish this post, then I’ll step away from the computer, I promise! I’ve found myself simply transposing old habits into my life in a new country, and in my spare time popping into bulletin boards to try to learn more about Chile and its customs. It wasn’t until I was banned from an expat forum this afternoon that I realized that I have been spending too much time talking to expats about living in Chile rather than getting out and experiencing things myself.

Enjoying the Valdivian Spring

I take getting kicked off of a board as a badge of honor. Most people slide by, responding to questions about real estate, finding an apartment, or food for years before ruffling any feathers. I, on the other hand, managed to make some tides right away, upsetting someone I imagine to be a very small, insecure man who gets his kicks from wielding his limited power on a board designed to promote his business. Aside from little Napoleon, as we’ll call him, the board is populated by many helpful people and many more grumpy and arrogant old men. I don’t mind the grumps, and brushed off the arrogance of others (hey, I work in the wine industry, I’m used to it!), and apparently crossed the line by daring to include a link to my blog, which I’ve been lead to believe is almost as shameless as going outside with wet hair in Chile. For those of you uninitiated, in Chile everyone looks at you in shock if you go outside with wet hair as it’s thought that this will make you sick. I even had someone offer to blow dry my hair on one such occasion…

It’s a beautiful day, and I’m so grateful to little Napoleon for kicking me off of his board, as it’s time for me to get off of my chair and enjoy the sunny afternoon. The rain finally stopped, just prior to the festivities, and right now Valdivia feels like the most beautiful riverside town in the world. Sometimes it takes a little, little Napoleon to remind us of the important things in life such as enjoying each precious moment with family and friends.

5 Comments, Written on September 20th, 2011 , Living Tags: Chile boards, Chile expat, Chile forum, PostAWeek, PostAWeek2011, Wet Hair in Chile

Happy Independence Day Chile!

We spent last year’s Chilean Independence Day (September 18th, of course!) in Vina del Mar, and really were in for a treat. It was the bicentennial celebration, and there were spectacular airshows, naval ship shows, fireworks, and even people dancing in the streets. This year, living in a smaller southern town, we were in for a different sort of celebration, both more relaxed and more delicious than the previous year’s festivities.

Aji Chileno - Chile's Spicy Salsa

When our landlord brought us a card to invite us to Sunday’s misa chilena (Chilean Mass), we knew we’d be silly to refuse. How often do you get a personal, hand-delivered card these days, and to attend a church a stone’s throw from your house, nonetheless? Although I personally wasn’t able to attend (long story), I’ve heard the highlight was at the end of the ceremony when the Catholic church’s pews were pushed to the side to make way for singing, clapping, and dancing. Not your typical Catholic mass, and it came as quite a pleasant surprise to the non-Chileans in attendance! I imagine it looked a bit like the cueca we spotted last year on the streets of Vina del Mar (video below.)

Following mass, it was cookie making time for our family. We had been invited to our landlord’s house for empanaditas (small meat pockets), and didn’t want to show up empty handed. Despite a lack of either measuring cups, vanilla, or brown sugar, we (my husband) managed to make some delicious chocolate chunk cookies. He simply replaced vanilla with a few drops of coffee, used 2 cups of raw sugar instead of the recipe’s request for 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar, and got extremely lucky with guesstimate measurements. However, not having either a cookie sheet or a cooling rack did cause a few problems, so it took 3 attempts before we were able to compile a plate of individually formed cookies. It took a bit longer than planned, but we figured, hey, when someone invites us over for 2pm-ish in Latin America, as long as we arrive in the afternoon sometime we’d be fine, as we were just invited over for snacks and not a formal lunch, or so we thought… Well, at 2:30 we heard a knock on our door, and it was our landlord checking to see if we were still planning on coming. We apologized, explained that we’re slow, and quickly wrapped up the cookie-making.

Ten minutes later we arrived at her house, and were greeted by our neighbors, our lovely landlord with her husband manning the grill, and some others we assume are family. Apparently, an invitation for empanaditas really meant “come over for a full-blown lunch” complete with barbequed meat, potatoes, salad, salsa, empanadas, wine, chicha (house made alcoholic beverage, in this case prepared from apples), alfajores (cookies filled with dulce de leche/manjar), and a fruit salad for dessert.

Asado Time!

The food was all delicious, and we were glad that we brought gifts of wine and cookies for the host, and hope they enjoy them once they are opened and consumed. They seemed to think it a bit odd that we brought food, so I am hoping that we didn’t violate any unspoken holiday lunch protocol with the cookies. I think my toddler ate more than anyone else at the table, which made her quite popular; my husband had trouble cutting up meat for her faster than she could get it into her mouth. I keep waiting for her to grow out of her eating-as-much-as-she-can-as-fast-as-she-can phase, though guess I shouldn’t complain as she will eat (with relish!) almost any food we give her.

After the lunch, we decided to head to the park to explore the holiday festivities. Last year in Vina del Mar, a large park was full of stalls covered by tents, in which you could enter and purchase some food and chicha. Terremotos (earthquakes, a popular alcohol-heavy drink) are also quite a popular on Independence Day, and were widely available, as were booths with local crafts. Besides the food, there was a section with entertainment, with people dancing the cueca, Chile’s traditional dance, along with various bands and singers. This year, in Valdivia, the food in the tents didn’t seem quite as appealing, we weren’t in the mood for any drinks, the crafts seemed very familiar, and we didn’t see any dancing. However, there was still plenty of entertainment, in a much more laid back manner.

Independence Day Sand Castles

While we didn’t partake of any terremotos, a group of tourists did, and one of them then proceeded to mount a metalic horse sculpture for a photo shoot with her friends. The sky was full of kites (which seemed prone top attacking groups of teenage girls), we discovered interesting sculptures in a quiet corner of the park, and my daughter learned a thing or two. She learned key life skills such as the process for poking a hole in moss with a stick, how to imitate the frogs chatting in the pond, and how to make sand castles using wet sand. Overall, it was quite a lovely day, and as the holiday continues on this afternoon we’re looking forward to a day to relax and recover from all of Sunday’s food and festivities.

2 Comments, Written on September 19th, 2011 , Food, Living Tags: Asado, Chicha, Chile, Chilean Independence Day, Cookies, Cueca, Misa Chilena, Terremotos

Weekly Photo Challenge: Textured Trafkintu

What better represents the concept of “textured,” the wordpress photo challenge, than photos from a Trafkintu? A Trafkintu, for those unfamiliar with the Mapuche term, is the traditional indigenous seed exchange which has been occurring in Southern Chile for generations. Although industrial agriculture has made many inroads into Chile, the traditional native focus on agricultural knowledge, ceremonies, and practices continues to preserve pockets of non-genetically modified fruits, grains, and vegetables. This is the type of food we consume, and the growers of “real” food are the people we try to support through direct purchases at the local farmers’ markets whenever possible. In search of some seeds to supplement our fledgling garden, we headed to the Trafkintu. The textured display of people, music, and seeds at the ceremony was a great start to our Saturday morning.

Trafkintu is a ceremony where seeds, plants, knowledge and friendship are shared and exchanged, in order to preserve knowledge of traditional plants and practices. This event was hosted at the Universidad Austral de Chile in Isla Teja, though the gatherings also take place in Santiago and in locations scattered throughout the country. It is a great way to learn about the best practices for planting different types of seeds, and about regional planting and harvesting practices. Many roamed the room carrying cameras, asking questions, and taking copious notes. Besides finding seeds for plants like corn, beans and quinoa, there were bulbs, cuttings, a few woolen hats, and olive oil on display. My toddler really enjoyed petting a large intact sheepskin hide she found, and after this had fun trying to grab seeds off of the tables.

As newcomers in Valdivia, we didn’t have anything to exchange,though desired seeds for our fledgling garden. We had yet to find a source for “real” seeds. Our goal is to plant organic plants and seeds that are not transgenic or genetically modified in any way. Ideally, we’ll include many heritage varietals, using seeds from plants that have been traditionally grown in Chile rather than hybrids created to grab consumers’ attention at supermarkets (since we’d choose ugly, tasty vegetables over big, brightly colored unblemished ones any day of the week!) Although Chile is a huge exporter of organic produce, it is surprisingly difficult to find “real” seeds in Chile, due to the large presence of multinational agricultural biotech organizations such as Monsanto. Trafkintus are our best hope to find what we have been looking for since Mapuche women have been traditionally growing plants and exchanging seeds for generations.

We attended this seed exchange where use of cash is highly discouraged, armed with nothing to exchange, but desperately wanting real seeds. Our only hope was to make friends or to somehow convince strangers to take pity on the “rich Americans” (we’re nowhere near rich, but the stereotype lingers within Chile) and provide us with the gift of a seed or bulb. This added another element of texture, namely trying to communicate across cultural stereotypes and linguistic boundaries. I imagine we were a bit of a curiosity to many at the event. Fortunately, our adorable and bilingual daughter remains our secret weapon. She won smiles from even the most stoic participants, had fun hiding behind the curtains with another little girl, and was given a gift of a bulb as we headed out the door. We still aren’t sure what kind of plant will grow from the bulb, but were told that it’s easy to grow and needs lots of rain, so it should be right at home in our patio garden.

3 Comments, Written on September 11th, 2011 , Living Tags: GMO Seeds, Mapuche food, Monsanto Chile, Organic Seeds, PostAWeek, PostAWeek2011, Seed Exchange, Southern Chile, Trafkintu, Weekly Photo Challenge

Traditional Chilean Food: Ulpo and Quinoa

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!

2 Comments, Written on September 3rd, 2011 , Food Tags: Chilean food, harina tostada, Mapuche food, PostAWeek, PostAWeek2011, Quechua food, quinoa, ulpo

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