Chris' Corner of Culinary Delights - Episode 4: Chicharrones, Inca Kola, Churros with Guava

Here are a few more local oddities that should be quickly addressed:

1. Chicharrones

This is a stall at the central market in Puno, Peru.  The person in the photo is shopping for chicharrones - fried pork rinds.  And shown in the picture is one of dozens of massive bags of pork rinds on hand in this stall alone (one of many in the chicharrones section of the market).
These are consumed everywhere in Peru, and also in Colombia.   

While in the US, the chicharrones shown above are the type most familiar to us, here in Peru, the term is used to describe any type of fried pork.  A typical preparation is to deep-fry pork chunks and serve with lots of oil, potatoes and a citrus-based seasoning.  I had this type in a sandwich from a stand in Cusco, complemented with some lettuce, tomato, onion, potato sticks and a mayo-based seasoned sauce.  

It can also refer to fried chunks of pork fat, which is served as a component of a larger dish.  As an example, one afternoon in Bogota, I had a lunch which consisted of a mix of seasoned ground beef, beans, plantains, avocado, a fried egg and topped off with a nice juicy chunk of fried pork fat. It was awesome.

2.  Inca Kola

Inca Kola is sold and consumed everywhere in Peru.  It's their Coke.  Wherever you go, you will find Peruvian families sitting around a table sharing a 4 or 5 liter bottle of the stuff.  I took this one out of our minibar the day before we left Peru as I had somehow not yet managed to sample the stuff (though I had heard warnings from several other visitors that I was bound to hate it).  

In case it is not apparent in the above photo, it was pretty awful.  Imagine drinking liquified bubble gum, only sweeter.  The appearance leaves a bit to be desired as well.  

3.  Churros with guava cream

As shown in Eva's previous post, we had this dessert one day after lunch.  Churros are, of course, widely consumed in much of the Spanish-speaking world.  Typically these sticks of deep-fried, sugar-coated goodness are served alone or with a chocolate sauce (very common in Spain). In this case, there was a bit of a twist, and the sauce consisted of some sort of guava-cream concoction.  While we have had many interesting, creative desserts along the trip so far, I thought this one was worth particular mention.  We all thought it was one of the best desserts we've had!

Stay tuned for the next episode, where we'll delve into African game.  We've only been here two days and already have lots of material...