Bolivia is a country in the heart of South America. It is surrounded by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Peru. And it has no access to the sea. It has abundant architectural remains from other cultures: the Tiwanaku civilization, the Incas, and a very important part of its population today are indigenous, such as the Quechuas and Aymaras.
Because they have such a diversity of geographic regions, cultures and climates, their food is varied and so are their fruits and vegetables. Although Bolivians eat three meals a day, the most important, as in most South American countries, is lunch. Some people come home from their jobs to have lunch with their families, except in the mountains when they have lunch when they go out to work in the fields. But in the cities, they often come home for lunch.
One of the most used meats for their meals is pork. Although they also eat a lot of chicken and beef, pork is the most used. They love pasta and rice, but potatoes are definitely a must in most meals. Like most of the countries belonging to the Andes region, they inherited potatoes and their love for them from the Incas.
Bolivian food has its origin in different sources. The Incas, Quechuas, Guarani and all the indigenous people of the region have left their recipes, their way of cooking potatoes, their taste for different meats. Then the Spanish came and brought many other recipes, and other ways and styles of cooking, then different immigrations, and also their neighbors added to this wonderful variety of dishes. It is a country where every part of a cow is eaten! All this becomes a delicious dish.
There are certain vegetables such as quinoa that grows in the Andes and has a high nutritional value, which in fact forms part of a balanced diet in many countries and has attracted scientific interest as a possible way of nourishing people in poor countries .
Potatoes are dehydrated, or fresh, used in a thousand ways, any one of nearly 4,000 different varieties of potatoes. The Incas had already discovered how to freeze them and keep them in good condition for a long time.
Because Bolivia has different levels of altitude, they have many different vegetables and they use them generously in their food. They also love to use herbs to make food taste. Although Bolivian food is not too strong, it has delicate flavors. They use trout from Lake Titicaca, which, prepared locally, is an exquisite dish. From the same lake they take their frogs, with which they prepare many delicacies, since their frog legs are well known throughout the world. Another strong point of Bolivian food is its soup dishes, where of course, corn is always part of them.
If we had to summarize the main ingredients that Bolivians use in their food, we would say potatoes, corn, pork, rice, trout, beef and a wide variety of sauces. And adding to these ingredients, an abundance of fresh vegetables and fruits, and the knowledge of what they inherited and what immigrations brought. Altogether, it is an exceptional enjoyment to eat any of their dishes.
