Touring South America - Part Three

(Chile: La Serena, Pisco del Elqui and San Pedro de Atacama)

If Argentina is the meat capital, then undoubtedly, Chile is the land of empanadas. Get on a bus and there they are: in polystyrene boxes, in sports bags and in hand, made for quick and easy sales during moments stolen as the bus ducks in and out of one bus terminal and onto the next.

And again, there they sit, in the window of each little hole-in-the-wall store that we pass, waiting patiently (and God only knows for how long) to be heated up and that first bite through thick, doughy pastry taken.

Like the Latin-American version of an Aussie meat pie, or the flakier English pastie, empanadas seem the smart choice for food on the run. But their usefulness doesn’t appear to stop there. Made in advance, and seemingly in motherloads, empanadas are eaten by Chileans at all hours of the day, be it in a restaurant or out of a swagman’s backpack. As we’d like to say back home, they’d make great food for ‘when unexpected guests drop by’. But here, it seems to be more for when an unexpected hunger pang hits. These pangs must come with some regularity, or certainty, ’cause there’s certainly no shortage of them. I counted 300 in a row of three stores alone. Ok I didn’t, but there truly were a healthy number of them.

If for some reason, however, there was a mysterious disappearance of Chile’s empanadas, there’s quite the selection of other appetite-fulfilling goodies to placate the belly, and like empanadas, they’re everywhere you look.

These people like to snack.

‘Is grazing a trait inherited from the Spanish?’ I ask myself as I opt between beautiful sun-dried duraznos or a dessert-like drink mote con huesillos in the foyer of the La Serena’s small archeological museum (in case I didn’t make it to the exit alive). The Spanish are best known for their bite-sized love of tapas, and the people of each Spanish colonised country I’ve been to can’t keep their hands away from their mouths. Or are they just more brazen with their displays?

Back home, if you’re not in a restaurant or a designated eating space, there is an overriding sense that you should be hiding what you are eating, or even that you are eating. Signs attest to this; ‘$50 fine for eating on the bus’, ‘No eating in the taxi’. I for one find eating on transport one of the most satisfying times to eat - I’m often by myself, so it’s one-on-one time with my favourite chocolate bar, the gentle rock of the bus’ motion, the constant hum of the train’s wheels, zoning out everything else and creating an impenetrable cocoon of food bliss.

But here, it’s food everywhere, anywhere and anytime. And if you’re not hungry, the colourful collage of biscuit and treats that fill the mini-stands of Chile’s streets, stations and every other inch of free space will crack you quick.

Empanada anyone?

Tagged as: Chile, Empanadas, South America, Up, Up and Away!