In Latin America, food is an intrinsic part of local culture. People generalize, exaggerate or confuse cultural habits – the same happens with food. I’ve heard the following questions more times than I can count: Is all Brazilian food spicy? Is Mojito the most popular drink in Latin America?
My answer is always the same: culinary habits differ from country to country and even within the same country, there are various traditional foods and habits. If we were to break it down into regions, the situation would be even more complex. When asked to share some food facts from Latin America, I knew I had to do some research into each country in order to avoid generalization and debunk myths. Even though I was fully prepared to discover that my assumptions were incorrect, the findings blew my mind.
Just to give you an example, salted potato chips are usually the go-to snack in many countries. That’s not the case in Colombia, though! There, chicken-flavoured potato chips are the most popular snack, surpassing the salted version.
I was also surprised to learn that choosing a snack as simple as banana chips is no easy task and varies from country to country. Colombia, Perú and Ecuador all have different types of banana chips as the go-to snack but Brazilians, although they consume bananas, are not banana chips fans.
Perú is one of the world's top gastronomy countries, so I was not surprised to find out that their ultra-famous “inka” snacks and drinks are consumed on a daily basis and are deeply rooted in the Peruvian culture. Products that can be found in our Mercado LATAM Perú menu include Inka Chips, with flavours ranging from sweet potatoes, cassava, banana and the list goes on. Inka Corn is a beloved snack; salted Giant White Corn of Cusco, for example, is the Peruvian version of the snack internationally known as mixed nuts. Speaking of renowned products, Inca Kola, with a fruity flavour and its distinct yellow colour is one of Perú’s national icons.
If you like strawberry-flavoured drinks, you’ll be interested in this one! Fióravanti, or "Fióra" as it is widely known, originates from Ecuador and it’s one of the oldest surviving soda pop brands. Fióravanti can be found in our Mercado LATAM Ecuador menu.
