Must Eat Foods: Guatemala Version

VACATION MEANS YOU MUST EAT LOCAL DELICIOUS FOODS

My first post ever on our joint blog. I’m the husband, Señor Foodie and the tester of all things wife wants me to try for our blog. So I do my part.

The wife is 100% Guatemalan and I have been with her for over 10 years now and had never visited her country to the south. She’s been a few times and even spent three months there without me before we got married. Now four years into our marriage the opportunity presented itself for us to go together. My incredibly talented artist wife had to go to Guatemala for more research for a series that she will have in a show later this year. So I tagged along to help her and finally see her country she loves so much.

My wife is the brains behind everything, trips, research, our household and even this blog. So she did very in-depth research about this trip so that it wasn’t all work or all family. I got to see so much, not everything but it was so much in two weeks. Most importantly I was able to eat lots and lots of Guatemalan food!!!

GUATEMALA CITY (You can read more about Guatemala City here)

We didn’t eat all these all at once. We came back to Guatemala City between our trips to other parts of Guatemala.

KAK’IK

Is a plate you must try, either in the city or in another place of Guatemala. We had ours from Arrin Cuan, we went to one on Centro Historico but there are others. My wife’s cousin took us there because he loves it. Can’t blame him, they have live music in the patio, live band inside and delicious food.

SHUKOS or SHUCOS

I’ve seen it written both ways so whatever the name, it is delicious must try when in Guatemala. Unfortunately, we had it on our last night of our trip, so we only had the one at Los Shukos. It was a great Guatemalan hotdog but my wife’s cousin swore we needed to try others when we return. I agree with her, I will return for you Shukos!

TIP: According to the locals the best place to go for Shukos, is Shukos del Liceo. It is in Zone 4 in front of a private school. I was told to try El Chino, but there are many you can try in this place. It is about 2-3 blocks of shuko vendors. We will be there next time!!!

PANADERIA BERNA

I have never been a smoothie lover or even liker. But a licuado sounds like a something dreamy, doesn’t it? The word translates to something liquid but Spanish makes everything sound better. Wife was in her early cravings of pregnancy and that is what she wanted, licuados. While in the city we were told we HAD to try Panaderia Berna. We went and stood in line, yes, this place had lines. One to order and another for pick up. They are obviously known for their bread. We should have tried that too. Next time!

SAUL BISTRO

This was a place where we attended on our last day too. It was a cute, relaxing place that I can see being a date place if we had dates there. It is not the traditional cheap eateries in Guatemala but it’s a regular restaurant in comparison to here in the U.S.

SANTIAGO, LAGO ATITLAN (Read more about Santiago Guatemala, here)

Not everyone is as much of a foodie as the wife and I are. I have to remember this when I travel with others. When people are hungry they want to eat then and it doesn’t really matter to them where. I will not tell you or show you the touristic places we ate at because what kind of foodie would I be?

Kape Ixim Che

As much as I loved Santiago we were only there a short time and the places around our hotel and recommendations were all very touristic. When we stumbled upon this place was because they had art and wife wanted to stop. That is when we found out they had food and it was oh so good. They had specialty teas as well and guess what, licuados.

JUTIAPA (Read more about Jutiapa Guatemala, here)

While we had help in Jutiapa because a big chunk of the wife’s family lives here, still there is plenty of places to eat even if you don’t have a clue where to go.

QUESADILLAS

These are not what you’re used to, the tortillas filled with cheese meal. Nope, this in Guatemala means sweet bread made of queso, or cheese and rice flour. I would say the closest to it, not in flavor but purpose is coffee cake. Reason because people eat their quesadillas with coffee for breakfast or for dessert. Jutiapa is known for their quesadillas because they sent some to our other family in the city when we went back and they would get so excited. I wish I would have eaten more of them. I will just have to learn to make it myself. I saw that Fiesta has them but didn’t buy them, will have to try them.

CHICHARONES or CARNITAS

These are not for the healthy and people trying to avoid fatty foods but if you miss out on this you will regret it. As long as you don’t eat like this every day making a tiny exemption while on vacation you will be fine. I ate these every day while in Jutiapa and when I got back home I had lost weight. They are chunks of pork and fat fried but oh so delicious.

ANTIGUA (Read more about Antigua Guatemala, here)

This little place is my wife’s favorite place in Guatemala. Well besides the gorgeous architecture there is plenty of delicious food!

ARROZ CON LECHE

You must try it in a cup something you can only find by going away from the center and search for the women dressed in traditional clothing that gather in a park. We did find that they can only sell in private places, like churches or park of churches. The city is trying not to have the tourists be in peace. So go look for them!

FRUIT

Sliced Mangos in a bag with spices a treat that is very basic but definitely different and worth trying. I think that was my meal one day for lunch. That satisfying.

SOBREMESA

Sobremesa is a restaurant but he got so popular with the ice cream he makes that he has a little ice cream shop as well. This is a must go to, they have 91 different flavors of ice cream and let’s just say many are adult flavor and well worth trying. I had to have one every evening and a few the day we were leaving. Not to mention the owner is an expat and he is very friendly. Next time we will be trying his restaurant by the same name.

There are tons more foods to try, we didn’t have that much time to try it all. These are things you shouldn’t miss on your mission to add to this list.