Top culinary destinations

According to Keith Bellows, Editor in Chief of National Geographic Traveler magazine,
“A meal is more than an intake of calories; it’s an exercise in cultural immersion. What people eat, when they eat, where and how they source the food, what gastronomic rituals they observe – all offer telling insights to a place and its people.”

It's that time of year to start dreaming about the next vacation destination.
Here are Bellows' top 5 culinary destinations.
What's yours?
(I'm a little partial to #5 myself...)

Mobile Cupcakes

What will they think of next?!

I saw this on my last visit to New York City:

Cupcakestop.com

Guatemalan markets

The art of tortilla making in Guatemala

I loved the 'hand-clapping' sound of tortilla-making that is very prevalent in Guatemala. I was even lucky enough to get to try to make a tortilla and, I can tell you, it is not as easy as the Guatemalan women make it out to look- the dough kept on getting stuck to my hands!

To make a tortilla, "nixtamalized corn" is used to make the dough (masa). Nixtamlized corn involved dissolving the hardened corn kernels in boiling water in which an alkali has been dissolved (in Guatemala, the alkali used is calcium hydroxide).
The masa is cooked on a comal (a traditional stove made with a heavy steel or iron sheet used as the cooking surface) that is heated with firewood, giving the tortillas a slightly smoky flavour.

Delicious!

Hola de Guatemala!

I'm sorry I haven't written in a while but I'm in Antigua, Guatemala now!
It's a great little city that has maintained it's traditional customs (ie. women carrying baskets on their heads is a common site in Antigua) but has adopted some modern customs.
This is evident in some of the restaurants I've seen. In this small town that's about 1.5km x 1.5km, I've seen a Subway, a McDonald's, a Dominoes Pizza and a Burger King! The fast food restaurant that is more popular in Guatemala (and Central America) is Pollo Campero.

Nonetheless, most Guatemalans eat 5 meals a day, 3 main meals and 2 snacks.

Breakfast is typically eaten early (7-ish) and consists of mosh (porridge) and fruit, eggs, beans and tortillas or toast with marmalade, and coffee.

Their first snack is taken at 10-ish and typically is atole, a sweet corn drink.

Lunch is the main meal, usually taken at 1-ish, and can include soup followed by meat, rice, vegetables, and a simple salad. Fresh fruit or fruit juice may follow the meal.

Their second snack is at ~4pm and is usually a pastry and coffee.

Dinner, at 7-ish and can include black beans, tortillas and eggs or sweet bread, beans, artichokes, rice and meat. Fried plantains, flan (caramel custard), or fresh fruit are popular desserts.

More pictures to follow!