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| Marcelo squeezing garlic |
Marcelo invited me over a few weeks ago, picking the date to fit in just after an intense period of study and exams, for his MSc in international human rights. It sounds quite hard-core, as he is combining an English language masters (a language he only learnt in his early twenties) with four hours of German class a day. He apparently likes a challenge!
Another challenge initially was getting access to Bolivian food, as (similar to other male hosts for this blog) he never had the need to learn to cook himself before leaving his home country. By now, he has mastered his favourite dishes, and is happy to share the results. Additionally, there is a Bolivian restaurant in Berlin which he recommends, both because the food is good and authentic, and because it is run by a friend of his. Not that many Bolivians end up settling in Europe...I have only ever met two before myself. When Marcelo urges me to ask me whatever I want about his home country, I realise there are certain stories about cholitas where I am not sure if they are indeed from Bolivia. Cholitas are
indigenous (Aymara and Quechua) women from either Peru or Bolivia, who
wear traditional dress: wide skirts, bowler hats and long braids. For
example, the amazing story about the cholitas who ended up climbing all the highest peaks in their country? Yes, indeed Bolivian, and a well-known phenomenon in the country. There are apparently even cholita wrestling matches, Marcelo tells me, in the theatrical style of wrestling similar to the colourful Mexican lucha libre.
I have a very faint memory of a Miss Cholita competition where a
participant was stripped of her title when the judges noticed she had
fake braids. Marcelo had not heard of this, but a quick internet search
turns up that it did happen in Bolivia, in 2007. I also want to check if he feels Evo Morales
has indeed done much for the position of indigenous people in the
country, as I have read. Marcelo feels the ex-president actually used
this topic to create division in the country, amongst a few other not so
positive traits, including a strong desire to hold on to power longer
than the constitution permitted.
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| Sopa de maní (peanut soup) with crunchy French fries as topping |
We have more than enough time to talk about all kinds of topics, as the preparations for the two dishes are quite elaborate. The peanut soup (or sopa de maní) is made with raw ground peanuts which are stirred over medium heat continuously to avoid burning. It is served with chicken and a variety of carbs: crisp toasted (not boiled!) penne pasta, boiled potato cubes and a crunchy topping of french fries. I have had a variety of peanut soups and sauces from West Africa and Asia but the fact that raw peanuts were used here (rather than roasted) gives this soup a very different taste. The toasted pasta is also a novelty.
The picante de pollo (chicken in spicy sauce) is the star player in the main course, with boiled potatoes, penne pasta with peanut sauce, onions, carrots and peas as sides. An extra pop of colour comes from a tomato salad, which Marcelo refers to as 'decoration', and indeed, though I eat it and it is tasty, he himself treats it as a garnish and does not eat it!
One thing that is a bit sad it the lack of access to at least one of the many (thousands!) varieties of Bolivian potatoes, and to chuño, a kind of naturally freeze-dried potatoes that are frozen at night and dried during the daytime over several cycles. Apparently the taste is truly different, and it can last out of the fridge for many years. We discuss how it is funny that so many European cuisines (Dutch, German, Irish) are based around potatoes without realising this is actually an 'exotic' plant from the Americas. These foreign origins are forgotten to such an extent, that Kartoffel is even a nickname for Germans when they are being typically German!
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| The picante de pollo with potatoes, pasta with peanut sauce and veggies |
