The Finale: Guatemalan Street Foods (GUATEMALA - post 1 of 1)

As we entered Guatemala, the final country on our itinerary, I struggled to remain energetic in my project to engage with street food vendors around the world. Nevertheless, the fatigue of constant travel wicked away upon reaching Antigua, a quiet cobblestoned town south of Guatemala City, and the magnificent Lake Atitlan. The excitement of participating in a country's food culture resurged in me once again.

Street vending in Guatemala cumulates many themes of the economies I've encountered in my travels. Perhaps Guatemala reveals aspects of all the street vending cultures I've previously visited simply because it is the last stop in our semester long journey, and I've become attune to the globally reoccurring characteristics across vending activities. Particularly amongst the Asian countries, common threads are outstanding. From an informal economy exemplified in India (responding to the needs of an impoverished market), the small home-converted-eateries functioning as social spaces in Vietnam, to the surprising sparcity of street vendors similarly encountered in China, Guatemala displays facets of it all.

Makeshift sidewalk shops and individual hawkers crowd the small pueblo streets of Guatemala, at times making up a greater percentage of the population than actual customers. Most of these businesses feature souvenir trinkets and tradition textiles for sale, rather than the cheap foods that have become a familiar part of my surrounds. What motivates the prevalence of food in some countries over trifle gifts and knickknacks in others? Is it the type of government, the strength of the economy, an individual need? Or perhaps the reasoning lies in the genetic disposition of a population. Unsurprisingly the simplest enterprises with low costs and low skill dominate the scene, spurred on by the fluid nature of entering and exiting the market. In Guatemala, fruit vendors carry out this position, selling bags of freshly cut papaya, pineapple, mangoes, and melons strung in colorful packages along the front of the wooden carts, and leading the way in the relatively underdeveloped street food scene.

"SUPER" TACO BELL
Panajachel is the largest and liveliest of several indigenous pueblos surrounding Lake Atitlan, a two-hour, winding, mountainous drive from Antigua. Even within the tourist hotspot of the picturesque town, food vending is a quiet and minor affair. At corner junctions of the narrow, "main" roads, a tiny community of two or three carts with gaudy red and yellow neon signs, your choice of either "Super Taco Bell" or "Fried Chicken and Fries," serve up (tacos or thighs) in the late evening hours. Having eaten at a disappointing bar-cafe our first night in Panajachel, I resolved not to leave the town without having sampled the carnitas tacos (sole menu item) at one of these street carts. It was a good decision - even after accounting for the ungainly trek over irregular stonework and sudden lightning storm + accompanying downpour. Three miniature masa corn tortillas were quickly fried in a moat of rusty-amber oil surrounding a protruding dome griddle. The tortillas are freshly made throughout the day by women selling bulk stacks to restaurant or individuals from their homes. Shredded braised pork and caramelized onions, reheated over the island griddle, mounded into one of these palm-sized shells before being topped with cabbage-cilantro slaw and salsa. As with any universal street food offering, these tacos sold for the budget price of about $0.6.



SERIOUSLY?! THE INFLUENCES OF CORRUPTION
Reflecting the economic strains of a developing nation, Guatemala street vendors are frequented mainly by locals, or the occasional adventurous traveler, in the same manner noted in India and Vietnam. The market is run mostly by young men in their late twenties or earlier thirties. Shy and polite, they disguise the economic burden of their families behind smiles or impassive stares. While the food was fresh, delicious, and inexpensive, other similar options (both in price and variety) are also served in small, home-converted-restaurants, which challenges the possibility of reaching profitable scales. Permits and formal regulatory devices seemed laughable wishfulness after encountering the corruption of local government authorities (we were offered protection against "ladrones," thieves on the road, in return for "una propina," tip money to cover the cost of disel from uniformed police at a gas station).

High crime, particularly in Guatemala City, is driven by poverty and disillusionment. Blatant corruption in every level of society perpetuates the disincentive for evolution and progression (we were also required to pay a small "entrance" fee for our taxi to enter the ocean port gates). I pause to consider, what drives a community to reach for an ephemeral, weak solution? Yet in spite of the presence of poverty within the community, the grim reality is subtly concealed behind cheerfully painted stores, a mishmash of corrugated metal (another universal indicator of need).

REFLECTION & REACTION
Over the past 100 days, I've traveled with the intention to understand the role of street foods in various countries and identify the cross-cultural threads of this unique offering of food. Food has long served a need greater than nutrition: community venues, gestures of hospitality and friendship, or tasteful indicators of cultural conduct. With regards to the foodstuffs themselves, they are a bargain way to eat fresh when one knows where to look. While developing economies may rely on street food as a primitive dining choice, these societies have also sustained communities and networks, sprung from gathering around a cart and becoming well acquainted with a favorite vendor and neighbors. In Western societies, we've become conditioned to recognizing standardization of national and international franchises as an indicator of consistency, if not quality. When presented with the option of freshly fried chicken (the real fowl in all of its once-feathery-existence), sizzlingly in recycled hot oil on grimy side streets, most of us will opt for Kentucky Fried Chicken's characterizing red and white sign, bathing us with promises of security and familiarity. We bury our heads and faces in the relief of "knowing" the source of our food. But what does this standard quality compared to? Are we to judge the character of the best fried chicken to be from a formulated recipe without even considering a "less worthy," freelance alternative? Or what of the host of other unfamiliar foods we pass off as too foreign, unsophisticated, or unappealing, always to return to the safety of fast food chains.

Small-scale operations enable consumers to be proactive about their meals. In my daring embrace of street food, always in protest of medical authorities' greater opinion, I was never once left seeking a toilet in despair; which brings me to a comment about traveling and food. In the U.S. food borne diseases are the greatest source of food related illnesses, however concern about our food on our home turf easily escapes our consciousness. We find ourselves on foreign soil and immediately paranoia sets in: we lose money and cameras, or are confined to the hotel toilet, convinced it was the unsanitary conditions of the country's food system. As with choosing the quality of your apples at the market, or between three different steakhouses to get the perfect steak, food options in different countries come in different forms and degrees of excellence. Food sold on the streets should not be faulted for being sold on the streets, but instead averted for being prepared in advanced and left to the mercy of flies and the sun. A beautiful feature of street food is its preparation on the street, naked to the scrutiny of the customer. In some ways it may be much safer than national chains we've come to adore and rely on.

Go out, take many first bites of old favorites assembled differently, familiar ingredients with unexpected flavors, or better yet experiment with something entirely unidentifiable.

THANK YOU!
Thank you to those of you who have followed my blog across the continents. I will be updating previous posts with photos in the upcoming weeks and also plan on concluding my tales from abroad with a post about battling the daily ship food buffet. I will continue with First Bite and will likely focus on crafting recipes from my experiences as well as inspiration from the local bounty. Cheers.