How Bolivia ditched McDonald's for sheep's head soup

It’s true much of Bolivia’s cuisine probably wouldn't draw international attention. But Bolivians have a fiercely independent attitude to their food generally: it’s the only Latin American nation without a McDonalds, as shown in this film out last year that told how the company decided to leave because local people were fonder of their own fast foods: www.jmtfilms.com/201353/FAST-FOOD.

I think it is this spirit that convinced Noma’s Claus Meyer to pick Bolivia ahead of any other country for setting up his second restaurant- Gustu- because it is similar to what the Noma-inspired Nordic food movement is striving for in northern Europe. Check out this fantastic Claus Meyer clip explaining the idea behind the movement.

Bolivia has a huge street food culture, in La Paz, for instance, you could probably munch your way through 24 hours of street food unique to the region:

Early morning: api with buñuelos: a gloopy purple maize drink with cinnamon and sugar served with hot fried pastries- sweet or savoury and often stuffed with cheese. You can find this all year round and in most cities.

Mid-morning: choclo cobs of giant white corn served with salty homemade cheese. This is seasonal from Dec- March and you will find it more in markets.

 Before lunch: salteñas- Bolivia’s ubiquitous pasties- baked and usually filled with meat, spices, potatoes, egg, olives, served at stands on every corner with a variety of spicy and colourful dips. (all year round)










Many markets have fresh fruit juice stands where you pick out fruits trucked from the Amazon region that servers will then blend and squeeze in front of you. (depending on each fruit season)



Afternoon: sandwich de chola (peasant lady’s sandwich): roasted pork and crackling served in a crusty bun with sweet-pickled vegetables and a spicy chili sauce. (all year round)



After dark: revellers delay their journey home for anticuchos: lamb’s heart kebabs skewered with a potato. All year round and normally you will find a lady selling them outside clubs and concerts.



There has even been a recent resurgence among wealthier families to go up to the poorer districts in search of places that serve sheep’s head soup (not really something I could manage myself!).

A friend of mine recently mentioned her very first impression of Bolivia was, when crossing the border from Argentina, she spotted a lady selling fresh orange juice squished in front of her - a very welcoming and refreshing introduction.

Gustu restaurant opened last Thursday (18 April). Some of their dishes seem extremely inventive and from what I have read and heard is outstandingly delicious. I can't wait to try it for myself.

Our new Gastronomic Tour of Bolivia showcases all the tastes and smells that make up the country's food and drink- culminating with a meal at Gustu. If food is a real passion, you could even combine this with our Peru Gastronomic Tour for a comprehensive gourmet adventure.


HighLives' related tours:

13-Day Bolivian Odyssey
Bolivia Gourmet Tour
The Andes Gourmet 
Discover Peru
Uyuni Salt Flat and Desert Safari

Bolivia the unfriendliest country to travel to?

Our guest blogger Melanie Stern shares her experience as a journalist in Bolivia after reading that Bolivia was ranked, by the World Economic Forum's recent Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report, as one of the unfriendliest countries in the world.

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I spent about three months in Bolivia in the summer of 2007, living with a family in Cochabamba, working at the newspaper Los Tiempos, volunteering in Chapare and travelling widely across the country's road network. I could not recommend Bolivia more warmly to anyone who wants a unique holiday in a very friendly place. I didn't speak much Spanish when I arrived in Bolivia, but everywhere I went people were willing to help me out, patiently listening to my attempts to communicate, being very curious about why I was in Bolivia, and engaging with me all the time. I usually felt safe wherever I was, and Bolivian people always warned me off the places a single white female was better avoiding. This survey focuses on the infrastructure countries offer to tourism firms and tourists, and finds Bolivia lacking, in its 'Americas' section, in which it includes the USA as a country, and unsurprisingly, the USA is top in that section of the study.

It is true that if you go to Bolivia expecting infrastructure such as motorways, service stations, broadband internet and top flight hotels, you're picked the wrong country for your trip. Bolivia is emerging strongly from a long history of postcolonialism and neoliberal economics, and its infrastructure, while definitely adequate for the needs of keen travellers versus all-inclusive tour operator holiday-makers, is not shiny top-of-the-range. But part of the fun of experiencing a nation in Bolivia's phase of development is negotiating a new culture, of which its infrastructure is one part, and can be readily navigated by anyone with common sense.

I found internet cafes everywhere, so I could upload my travel photos to Facebook as I went; I could jump on a bus from one side of the country to the other at almost any time; I did miss having a very hot shower on a daily basis, but I got used to showering in lukewarm water quickly enough to get to the local bakery for my morning saltena. Sandals Resorts it is not. And I hope it never is.

Like any other nation, Bolivians want to know about the visitors that travel so far to see their home, and they are open to you if you are open to them. That includes Americans. The people you meet on a trip leave an indelible mark on your experience of a new place, so if they are unfriendly or unhelpful, you'll always think of that place as not a good place even if it was beautiful or exciting in other ways. In Bolivia I had the experience of beauty, excitement, exoticism, cosmopolitanism, tradition, art, amazing food, education, and this was all conveyed at its best through the people I met and made lifelong friends with. I left Bolivia with more friends and cultural awareness than I entered. I wonder if the people who compiled this study have ever been to Bolivia, let alone met a Bolivian. And in any case, the statistics they supply diverge from their conclusion: they show that tourist numbers have been steadily rising. In my experience of travelling across Latin America, it is Bolivia that stands out as the friendliest country by far.

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If you want to read more about Melanie's experience in Bolivia we have listed some below:

Why did McDonald’s fail in Bolivia? Blame the salteña

Curfews and culture: staying with a host family in Bolivia

Jaguars and paintbrushes: a volunteering weekend in Bolivia’s Chapare

Introducing our gourmet tour of Bolivia and dine at Noma’s owner’s new restaurant

This week saw the launch of no ordinary restaurant in Bolivia’s La Paz.

The founder of Copenhagen’s Noma, voted the world’s best restaurant for the past three years, has chosen the city as the home of his second venture, Gustu.

To coincide with this, HighLives has launched our gourmet tour of Bolivia- a seven-day journey taking in the best of the country’s produce that ends with a 15-course dinner at Gustu.
(Both Gustu and our tour were mentioned in today’s Guardian)

I’ve never been to Noma- with hefty prices, just 40 seats and a waiting list stretching years I don’t think many people have- but I’m very excited that the owner has chosen my home country for his next venture, which looks like it could lead to wonderful benefits for visitors and local people alike.

Gustu promises to deliver pioneering menus with 100% Bolivian ingredients with the aim of encouraging Bolivians to rediscover their own rich food culture. There is a cookery school to train local young chefs from poor backgrounds and plough earnings back to a non-profit foundation.

I think HighLives’ new tour gives a flavour of the region’s best produce and cooking. The country is full of vibrant markets, tasty street food and fresh, seasonal produce.

The tour takes in the wine-growing region of Tarija, where Gustus has built its cellar including the gin-like spirit Singani. It also includes Uyuni’s salt flats and the plains where super-grain quinoa has been harvested as a staple for hundreds of years.

It rounds off in La Paz, where vibrant markets burst with fresh produce and interesting snacks are cooked and sold on virtually every street corner. I sometimes really miss my mid-morning saltena- kind of a pasty sold with lots of dips and spicy toppings- and the fresh fruit juice stands. I have searched London's specialist shops for chuno- a freeze dried potato that produces a really unique flavour that tastes a lot better than it sounds! (I will be posting more soon about these tasty treats).


Bibiana
highlives.co.uk
+44(0)20 8144 2629
info@highlives.co.uk

HighLives launches gourmet tours to Bolivia, including Noma owner's new venture

HighLives Holidays is offering its first gourmet tours to Bolivia to include the second venture by pioneering Danish chef Claus Meyer, whose first restaurant was Copenhagen’s Noma, voted the world’s best restaurant for the past three years.

Meyer hopes his Gustu fine-dining restaurant, due to open next month, will follow Noma’s lead to put Bolivia on a path to its own culinary development by sourcing  ingredients only from within its borders.

HighLives, has crafted a eight-day experience for adventurous food-lovers to explore Bolivia’s little-known wine-growing region, the vast salt flats at Uyuni and the high Andes plains where the super-grain quinoa has been cultivated  for centuries.

Visitors then tour the vibrant markets of the high-altitude capital La Paz, which presents unique challenges to Gustu chefs to adapt to an atmosphere where water boils at just 80 degrees Celsius.

The journey rounds off with a spectacular 15-serving meal at Gustu, the centrepiece of the non-profit Melting Pot Foundation, which aims to train local chefs and develop employment opportunities for local young people.

HighLives can provide extended stays in Bolivia and the rest of the continent, using our local knowledge to enable visitors to experience the real Latin America. One option for gastro-tourists is a trip to Peru’s capital Lima, recently awarded world capital of gastronomy of 2013.

Itinerary at a glance:

Day 1: Arrive to Santa Cruz

Day 2: Flight to Tarija, Bolivia’s wine region

Day 3: Tarija, visit to wine producers and the wine region

Day 4: Tarija- Uyuni flight, visit to salt producer and quinoa plantations

Day 5: Bolivian desert safari – overnight in Tayka Ojo de Perdiz

Day 6: Flamingos and Lagoons – overnight in Luna Salada, Uyuni

Day 7: Flight Uyuni –La Paz

Day 8: 15-serving dining experience at Gustu

Contact HighLives
www.highlives.co.uk
info@highlives.co.uk
+44(0)20 8144 2629