Eating: It's about time

26 June 2012

It is shocking that it has taken me this long to write specifically about food.

It would shock the women at my job. In their mind, all I do is talk about food, ask about eating, or actually eat. Such a simplication is a bit unfair, but I will own the fact that I enjoy food and its consumption (after all, it is partly what I'm studying).

What I must discuss are Chilean meals. Specifically, their placement in the day.

Desayuno (breakfast) is very variable, as it is in the US, with different people consuming different things at different times. Something that surprises me, though, is that many will eat breakfast upon arriving at the office, made possible by the modest portions of yogurt / crackers / toast that signify a meal. This is craxy to me, moslty becauase I prefer things like cereal that tend to be prepared at home and because sitting at my desk is just about the last place I want to eat.

Lunch = "curanto" from the southern island of Chiloe, involving a bunch of meat, seafood, and potatoes.

Almuerzo (lunch) is where I have the biggest bone to pick. It is around 1 to 3pm, and in my office the designated lunch hour is 1:30-2:30pm. This means with a 7:30am breakfast I have six hours between meal one and two. Not feasible. Even in the US I get hungry late in the morning and often eat lunch before noon, especially when awaking early. Chileans seem quite steadfast about waiting till 1:30 though. Then they tend to eat a big, heavy lunch, mistakable for dinner, and often eat out. Restaurants make a big deal about lunch, as it is considered the main meal of the day. Of course, Chileans are human and get hungry before 1:30, so they snack a bunch - which I hate to do.

Onces (elevenses? tea time?) - speaking of snacks, around 5 or 6pm Chileans have a nearly official snack break. It involves cakes or crackers and a beverage. No one has an adequate explanations for why "11" occurs around 6pm, but theories abound on the internet. My office takes this less seriously than others, so I'm not witnessing the real deal. Of course, my coworkers tend to evacuate the building every day promptly at 6pm, so maybe I would notice it if there were longer work days.

Cena (dinner). Either way, having a snack around 5pm only makes sense to me if you eat really late dinners like Mediterannean countries. But apparently in Chile they don't. Dinner ranges from 6-9, like in the US I'd say, and it depends on the household. The meal is typically smaller than lunch, taking into consideration the snack you might have just finished. Some folks apparently skip dinner altogether and just eat their "onces" as their final meal at work - which, again, appalls me. As a big diner, this frustrates me because night dining - at least during the week, when I'm actually present in Santiago - is not a big thing, and restaurants that are open with legit dinner menus (or God forbid, specials) aren't easy to find. So I've resorted to making dull dinners at home, like I must leave to do now.