XelaWho Magazine: Snacking

Now, Xela has some pretty delicious restaurants, but sometimes, you’re just not hungry enough to sit down to a full meal (it’s never happened to me, but the walk to Sabor is sometimes long enough that I need to bring snacks with me). Thankfully, Xela is also full of tasty, inexpensive snack food. From street stalls to hidden treasures in many businesses, there’s plenty to get you through those awkward foodless hours between meals or those tight weeks in your traveler or volunteer budget.

VEGETARIAN GUIDE TO XELA

By Greg Haynes

As soon as you step off the plane, panic sets in; the whole country appears to live on meat. While your host family tears into their chicken dinner, you force down bites of rice and tortilla, resigning yourself to a slow death by starvation. But take heart, gentle soul, vegetarian food options abound here in Xela. These are a few of my favorites, organized into four price categories: Q25-50, Q15, Q5, and Q2, thereby accommodating even the most tight-fisted of travelers.

In the first category try Sabor de la India (Callejon 15, off 2a Calle). My favorite is the Vegetarian Tali, which features a portion of every veggie dish they make. Another good bet is the Royal Paris (14a Avenida 3-06). Their vegetarian lasagna is delicious and filling. Finally, Café Q (Diagonal 12 at 6th Calle) is a completely vegetarian restaurant which features a dynamite vegetable curry with homemade chapati.

In the second category, Café Danés (on 15th Avenida and 6th Calle) serves an adequate veggie plate of soup, rice, beans, assorted vegetables-of-the-day, and a refresco, with as many tortillas as you can eat. A similar deal can be found at Restaurante Mike in the first food court south of the Cathedral. Talk to the cook before you order to confirm the contents of your meal.

In the third price category, you can get a filling dish of rice, beans, and unlimited tortillas at Comedor Rosario (in the lower food court south of the cathedral and the amphitheater) for a mere Q5. At Tienda Leon (opposite Casa Argentina on Diagonal 11) you get excellent tostadas for Q1 each. Choose from several toppings: soy (the best), refried beans, beets (surprisingly good), and grated radish or cabbage.

But if your only source of income is pretending to be blind, begging with your eyes closed in Parque Central, then pick up eight tamalitos for Q2 at the tortilleria opposite Las Flores market (8th Calle 16-25) or get two delicious and filling glasses of atol de elote, a nutritious, traditional corn drink, from Doña Margarita inside the Las Flores market. At Q1.25 each, this simple meal works great as a midmorning snack. In a pinch, it will keep you just this side of starvation for the whole day.

PAST SNACKS....

XELA TREATS

By Carlos Poza

Pupusas: A staple of the Xela street food diet, pupusas are probably the most reliably delicious snack in the city. Corn flour patties filled with cheese, beans, pork skins, and sometimes a few special ingredients, they’re available throughout the city from stalls in the Central Park and Calvario, as well as in a few scattered pupuserias. Every Xela resident has their favorite stall or pupuseria, but, at only Q5 a piece, you might as well try them all.

Pache: Walk past the CD stalls in the Central Park, outside the market building on the corner of 8 Calle and you’ll see two or three women sitting on the ledge with giant steaming baskets. You’ve reached the pache women, purveyors of more deliciousness per Quetzal than any other food vendor in Xela. A typical food of the western highlands, Pache is like a tamal, except made with either potato or rice flour. Get Q1 of tortillas to eat it with and you almost have a complete meal for Q4.

Piedras: With multiple locations throughout the city, Xelapan bakeries can be a lifeline for travelers low on funds. One item stands out to XelaWho - the piedra. Not quite a scone, not quite a muffin, the piedra is a lump of soft, chocolate frosted cinnamon and anis flavored bread. They’re a little difficult to describe, but at Q1.35 and quite satisfying, it’s easy to eat a couple of them for a hurried breakfast.

Fruit popsicles: For those hot afternoons between thunderstorms, nothing hits the spot like frozen fruit juice on a stick. While a number of stores sell fresh popsicles, few can compare with those of a small store at the corner of 6 Calle and 16 Av, specializing in wooden furniture and religious icons. Tucked back by the register is a small cooler filled with homemade tropical fruit popsicles and a few more inventive flavors. Whoever said money can’t buy happiness, clearly never went to this store with Q3.50.