Honduras, as you may know, is not known for its culinary achievements. Some have even side that Central American food is like Mexican, just without spice or flavor. This could be because Honduran chefs (aka the matriarch of most large families) are laden with the task of doing the best they can with what they have at their disposal – on the cheap. Which isn’t easy. Rice, beans, tortillas, locally made cheese and locally grown veggies are what you will find in the average Honduran kitchen. Sounds pretty good right? But add a quart of cooking oil to each meal every single day. Well, it can get monotonous. And greasy.
Which is why I was so excited to go to the Cantaranas Festival de Alimentos Tradicionales which is a unique food festival in the town of Cantaranas (I have been there once before for an HIV training, read that post here). I went with some friends from here in El Real: Vanessa, Jonny and Paola. Actually I heard they were going so I more or less invited myself along, but I think they were happy to let me join 
Paola, me, Johnny, Vanessa
This food festival is special because it is not just regular Honduran fare. The purpose of this particular event is to celebrate traditional dishes that are special to Honduran heritage or have become “extinct” in modern kitchens for one reason or another.
Cantaranas featured over 25 booths offering different drinks, soups, meats and golosinas (snacks) at very reasonable prices I might add. Many were dishes I (and my Honduran friends) had never heard of before, and yet some were just better versions of the stuff I’ve been eating for over a year now.
I sampled so many new things and though I didn’t love it all, it was all very, um …homemade tasting. And the vendors we really great about explaining things to me and letting me take tons of pictures.
Sopa de Mondongo - cow stomach
Soup seemed to take the stage at this event. Soups are already a popular staple of the Honduran (and Central American) diet. They can be filling, meaty and fairly healthy, depending on what part of the animal they use. But here, women stand outside with huge vats of fragrant broth bubbling all day long, even when it’s 90+ degrees outside. Now that’s dedication to the craft.
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Sopa de Gallina
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In addition to the soups, we saw lots of meat on skewers for sale. Pinchos de carne and pinchos de pollo are, by far, the most popular, and let me tell you they are delicious. As a former vegetarian, I’m not generally a huge fan of red meat, especially some of the deep-fried concoctions that I’ve been force-fed in this country. But the pinchos de res smelled so amazing I couldn’t resist. I’m not sure what kinda of merinade gets used – perhaps none, but the beef is so juicy it melts in your mouth. They were pink and tender in the middle, but crunchy and just a little blackened on the outside. And slightly chewy with a little bit of marbled fat inside. To make it even better, most pinchos are served with a plate of rice, beans, and tomato/onion chismol and sold for around 40 lempira – 2 US dollars!
Pinchos de res - beef skewers
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Another favorite of ours were some of the bebidas tipicas sold at nearly all the booths. To call these fermented fruit drinks alcoholic, might be somewhat of a stretch. But they definitely pack a punch and pican el estomago if you have more than one. Chicha de piña is fermented pineapple juice, which is thick and sweet with pulpy bits just like regular pineapple juice. But the fermentation process makes it frothy and very tart. It took some serious effort, but I managed to finish mine.
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We got to see some men making jugo de caña (sugar cane juice) the old fashioned way:
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Another homemade drink we tried is Vino de Pinol which (I think) is a type of wine made from pine trees (can that be right?). The four of us were really excited to try it because apparently it is an Olancho delicacy that originated from trees here in our home department – so I was told. It was actually pretty delicious, tasted to me like strong carbonated lemonade. However after just one glass my stomach was churning a little…
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There were also lots of sweets vendors there as well, selling the usual crackers, cookies and biscuits. Honestly the dessert selection in this country doesn’t thrill me. It lacks creativity and every type of candy or pastry is just another variation of the same four ingredients. Mostly just dry crumbly rosquillas which are usually meant to be dipped in coffee. The other options are the squishy dulces de tapon that come shaped like little marzipan fruits. But they remind me of sugar-covered Play-Doh, so I skipped those and opted to spend the calories on more drinks…
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We all got temporary tattoos from a bunch of scraggly hippies because, well, why not?
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In the evening there was a series of dance presentations featuring half a dozen different troupes from all over Hondu. A traditional group from Danli, some modern teenage dancers from Teguz and a Garifuna-inspired ensemble from somewhere on the North Coast. The breadth and variety of the dances was very impressive and fun to watch, especially when we got dragged onstage for the audience participation part.
Later in the night, after the dancers went home and the last of the vendors had scraped the bottoms of their 5-gallon soup cauldrons, the real party began. The Fiesta de Mascaras is essentially a city-wide prom that sells booze and takes place in the Alcaldia building. We got our masks from Laura, the Peace Corps volunteer who lives in Cantaranas and was working her ass off throughout the festival weekend.
After taking a dozen pictures, we removed out masks immediately upon arrival. They were beautiful but I had trouble seeing and seemed to leave a trail of glitter every where I went. But the “dance” was really fun and most of the town partied until 4 a.m., so I was told. (We, on the other hand, retired to our hotel relatively early so we could wake up the next morning ready to stuff our faces again).
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more pictures!
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I had a great time in Cantaranas! I’m going to put the rest of the hundreds of pictures we took on the flickr page so you can check out ALL the food and festivities.
Paz,
Sarita
