If you are an American familiar with Tex Mex food, I would like to share a few vocabulary tips for eating in Peru…
- Tortilla
In the US, Mexico, and some Central American countries…
A tortilla is a flat, round, flour or corn-based “masa”, great for wrapping delicious food to make tacos or burritos. (More on tacos and burritos in a minute.)
In Peru…
Also flat and round, but a tortilla is an omelet, usually made with vegetables like spinach, red peppers and sometimes even broccoli if you’re lucky!
2. Tacos
In the US, Mexico, and some Central American countries…
Tacos are a dish made from a tortilla, filled with yummy things like beans, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and meat if you’re into that.
In Peru…
…you put tacos on your feet when you’re going out, going to work, (or anytime really because I feel like lots of people dress up to look good all the time here). So, in case you didn’t catch that, taco are high heels.
3. Burrito
In the US, Mexico, and some Central American countries…
A burrito is like a taco, but completely wrapped up in a big tortilla, and one of my favorite foods.
In Peru…
The first thing someone here thinks of when you say “burrito”, is small donkey.
Burritos, and Tex-Mex food in general, are only recently becoming a thing here, and really only in Lima (though two days ago in Huancayo we had delicious burritos at a new taco restaurant!)
4. Chalupa
In the Texas (or at least in my family)…
A chalupa is a quickly-ready dinner: a flat and round corn-based hard shell with beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato (and avocado if you’re lucky) on top.
In Peru…
I’ve only heard this out in the rural areas, but a chalupa could be a skiff or canoe, or if you are on a farm where the crops are planted on a steep hill or mountain, a chalupa is a wooden ladder that is used to drag the harvest from high up in the hills, down to the main road.
5. Nachos
In the US, a quick snack or meal made by melting cheese over tortilla chips, often with refried beans or ground beef, topped with lettuce and tomato, and maybe olives and sour cream, if you’re into that.
In Peru…
Nacho is a guy’s name, well a common nickname really. (Thank you Nacho for being the photo example.)
6. Tuna
Ok, this a little different because it’s just a translation thing, but since I ate a tuna popsicle yesterday, I thought I would share:
Tuna in English is this very cool fish…
In Peru…
It’s that fruit that grows on cactus, and if you have enough patience to peel the skin that has hundreds of tiny spines, and deal with the million seeds inside, it’s a delicious fruit!