Sidenote: We love the Peruvian food one can find in the restaurants here. If you go out to eat for supper, you can usually get a wonderful hot plate for S/ 15 - 20 ($5-7) where as a lunch sandwich might be S/ 8-10 ($2.50-3.15). I prefer La Menu--the set meal for the day at a set price. I have paid S/ 12 ($4) for this, and I have paid S/ 3 ($1) for what usually is a soup, drink (chicha, made from corn) and main course of a meat, rice and potato/vegetable. That's a deal.
But we also love (and can more easily afford) to cook. So we escape the sun and head into the shade of the market, a place where your nose is attacked and forced to surrender to the smells of our survival needs--some as sweet as flowers or fruit and others stink bombs (unknown meats, old cheeses, rotting produce).
Some people sell scarves, hats, gloves and skirts. We usually stop to get fresh-squeezed juice of every fruit (as long as you ask them to use bottled water). There are young children who walk around with carts on wheels. In the bottom cage, there are two little birds. On the top of the cart are two bowls of eggs: one peeled, the other, in shells. Talk about fast food.
We walk through bags of oats and dried corn seed, nuts and dried fruit. We hit the meat section, and my stomach turns. Entire carcasses of pigs, chickens and the like hang, easily recognizable and not at all appetizing. I keep my eyes on the mangoes and make a bee-line forward. In my favorite section, women sit up high and call from their thrones of color: bananas, star fruit, peaches, plums, apples, pineapple, mangoes, papaya, strawberries. We point, and they weigh, and it takes a lot of self-control to wait for boiling water before eating. We hunt for veggies and meat and, on the sunniest of days, I buy flowers because the day just wouldn't be the same without a bundle in my arm.
Most fresh food is cheap. Here's a cheat sheet (the Peruvian currency is the Sol):
1 bottled water: S/ 1 = $0.33
1 kilo carrots: S/ 4 = $1.33
1 red bell pepper: S/ .53 = $0.18
3 mangoes: S/ 2.50 = $0.83
6 peaches: S/ 4.50 = $1.50
3 avocados: S/ 3 = $1
1 jar all-natural peanut butter: S/ 12 = $4
6 slices of cheese: S/ 3 = $1
2 freshly baked ciabatta rolls from the local bakery: S/ .50 = $0.16
3 large breasts of chicken (on the bone and with some blood): S/ 15 = $5
Pack of 24 Oreos: S/ 3.50 = $1.15
1 L orange juice: S/ 2.50 = $0.83
Cold milk--oh wait, it doesn't happen here. So to me, it's priceless.
The groceries are quite funny (and it was like this in China) in the fact that over half of the store seems to be bread, cookies, candies and puddings. The rest is meat, noodles, yogurt and some beverage aisles.
The freshness of these foods makes us want to turn eating into an art; in order to savor the locals' produce, we take every opportunity to cook and experiment with recipes so that we sit down for supper, nod our heads at each other and smile a silent "well done." Those trips to the market and the freshness of our food are things my senses have awoken to and grown a deep appreciation for. I wish I could invite you over for dinner.
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