Free Spanish Lesson 62. Eating ALL of the cow part II.

Vocabulary For Today’s Free Spanish Lesson- Vocabulario para el boletín

el mundo – the world

boletín – newsletter

(la) comida – (the) food

puede ver – you can see

desafortunadamente – unfortunately

hablamos brevemente – we talked briefly

partes de la vaca – parts of the cow

esta semana – this week

las cosas interesantes – the interesting things

hay que darse cuenta – just realize (it’s necessary to realize)

como he mencionado anteriormente – as I have mentioned previously

por dos años – for two years

muy ofendidos – very offended

yo mismo – myself

con respecto a – regarding

para mí mismo – for myself

variación – variation

mi plato vacio – my empty plate

mondongo – cow stomach

pedacitos pequeños – little pieces

liso – smooth

un lado – one side

y el otro lado – and the other side

frecuentemente – frequently

carne – meat

sopa – soup

almuerzo – lunch

sopa caliente – hot soup

adentro – inside

yo vi – I saw

mi sopa – my soup

un chiste – a joke

hueso(s) – bone(s)

pata de pollo – chicken foot

patas de pollo – chicken’s feet

puede tener – you can have

calorias – calories

pollo – chicken

mi esposa – my wife

loco – crazy

hueso de pollo – chicken bone

cuí – guinea pig

me encantó – I loved

país – country

escribe a – write to

extraño – strange

cosas diferentes – different things

Hablamos brevemente last week about eating different partes de la vaca so no comida is wasted. Esta semana I want to tell you about some of las cosas interesantes I ate while living in Latin America. If it makes your stomach week, hay que darse cuenta that you are only reading about it; I had to actually eat them.

Como he mencionado anteriormente, when eating at someone’s house in Latin America, as I did 3 meals a day por dos años, you should eat all of la comida your host/hostess serves you or they can become muy ofendidos and hurt. I quickly realized, by painful experience, that I couldn’t even give la comida to a friend and have them eat it – I had to eat it all yo mismo.

As I learned more about Latin American culture con respecto a comida, I made one food rule para mí mismo that helped me get through the culture shock. The rule is, “when eating an unrecognized comida, don’t ask what it is”. Sometimes I implemented a slight variación to this rule, “Don’t ask what it is for an hour or two after eating it”. This rule helped keep my mind focused, my stomach less weak and mi plato vacio.

Here are just a few of las cosas interesantes I ate in Latin America that I wasn’t accustomed to. We often had mondongo. To me, it tasted a lot like edible rubber. It was usually cut into pedacitos pequeños about the size of a coin; on un lado it was liso and rubbery, y el otro lado had fibers similar to those on a towel. It took me a few times of eating it to get used to it, but then it was tolerable. We also frecuentemente had cow heart, liver and other interesting looking carne that I never dared ask what they were.

We had sopa almost every day for almuerzo during the two years I lived there. It was sopa caliente even though it was around 100 degrees outside with no air-conditioning adentro. Often the soup had an actual chicken’s foot in it! The first time yo vi a chicken’s foot in mi sopa, I was shocked and thought it must be un chiste until I saw everyone else eating their chicken’s foot.

Now I’ll briefly educate you on the fine art of chicken-foot eating. You pick up the pata de pollo in both hands, and then nibble the skin/meat around each hueso. This process can take quite a while, so if you get patas de pollo in your sopa, be sure to plan your time accordingly if you have time constraints. The great thing about patas de pollo is that if you’re watching your figure, you don’t have to worry; puede tener as many as you want without having to worry about calorias – there isn’t much to a pata de pollo.

While we’re on the topic of pollo, in Latin America I learned to eat every bit of pollo from the huesos; then I learned to bite the huesos in half and suck out the marrow. When I first got married (back in the U.S.), and mi esposa saw me do this. She thought I had gone loco and was about to send me to a psychotherapist. I really had to convince her that I was okay and explain why I bit the hueso de pollo in half and was sucking out the marrow.

A few other cosas interesanted I ate were cuí, pig’s feet and pig intestines stuffed with shredded pork cooked in boiled pig’s blood. Aunque las diferencias culturales in comida were difficult to get used to, I came to enjoy these diferencias and soaked it all in. Para mí, it became a culinary adventure!

Some diferencias culturales can seem extraño or even weird, but they are just that – diferencias.

Remember, just because someone does things different or eats cosas diferentes, it doesn’t make them “weird”. Instead of saying, “Wow – that’s weird!” try saying “That is different.”

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Written by David S. Clark President/Director, U.S. Institute of Languages. Copyright © 1999-2011 US Institute of Languages All rights reserved.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.