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Latin American Food & Cooking

See also: Spanish Food & Cooking

 

Latin American Food in General

Selected Books

These books will introduce you to traditional dishes and food of Latin America.
For more cookbooks, browse the catalog under Cookery -- Latin American

The South American Table: the Flavor and Soul of Authentic Home Cooking from Patagonia to Rio de Janeiro Kijac, Maria Baez.
The South American Table: the Flavor and Soul of Authentic Home Cooking from Patagonia to Rio de Janeiro, with 450 Recipes (2003)
Kijac not only provides an extensive collection of detailed recipes, she annotates each with information about the dish.
The Latin American Kitchen Luard, Elisabeth
The Latin American Kitchen: a Book of Essential Ingredients with More than 200 Authentic Recipes (2002)
Luard illustrates the use of each Latin American ingredient with great photos and a couple of recipes. Included are less common ingredients like quinoa, amaranth, cassava, chayote, and jicama, along with well known South American staples like chiles, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, and beans.
Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified Bladholm, Linda
Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified
If the cans and packages and bottles you find in La Reyna in the Strip mystify you, take this book along on your next shopping trip.

Websites

  • Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP)
    The International Potato Center carries out research on potatoes and other Andean roots and tubers.
  • Cocina del Mundo
    This world cooking site from Spain offers a large collection of South and Central American recipes, arranged by country. In Spanish.
  • Las Culturas: Food and Recipes
    Links to recipes from Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.
  • David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies: Food in the Americas
    DRCLAS Spring 2001 Newsletter from Harvard University includes a variety of articles and reviews centered on Latin American food and nutrition. Available both as web pages and in .pdf format.

  • Epicurious: Caribbean Recipes
  • Epicurious: Central and South American Recipes
    Recipes from Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines.
  • Goya Foods
    This is the website of Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States. It offers a large collection of recipes, using Goya ingredients, in both Spanish and English. Included are Ajiaco Criollo (Sancocho), Empanadas de Carne, Moros y Cristianos, Tembleque, and many more.
  • Historia de la Cocina
    The articles in Spanish on this website are written by the Historiadores de la Cocina, Grupo Gastronautas. They cover the history of cooking in Spain, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, the Caribbean.
  • LANIC Food and Nutrition
    Latin American Network Information Center, University of Texas at Austin. Large collection of latin food links.
  • Lost Crops of the Incas
    Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation
    This book (published in 1989) from the National Academies Press can be read online or purchased. Anyone who has lived in the Andean region knows that there are many fruits and vegetables in common use there that people in the U.S. have never heard of, much less eaten.
  • OC Excelsior: Mi Cocina
    This is the food section of the Orange County (CA) Excelsior newspaper. Although most of the foods are Mexican, you will also find some recipes from other Latin American countries. In Spanish.
  • Oldways: Latin American Diet Pyramid
    This pyramid represents a healthy, traditional Latin American diet based on two distinct historical periods of the culinary evolution of the peoples of the South American continent, the pre-Columbus and post-Columbus.
  • Planeta.com: La Olla Latinoamericana
    A selection of tested Latin American recipes (in English) compiled by Melissa Biggs for Planeta.com, a clearinghouse for ecotravel in Latin America.
  • Univision: Mujer: Cocina
    Recipes from the Spanish language television network. In Spanish. Articles cover typical food like Arepa de huevo, empanada de maíz, buñuelo, carimañola, papa rellena, patacón pisao.

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Argentina

  • Epicurious: Going Global: Argentina
    Meet an Argentine chef. Includes a food glossary and book list.
  • Hoy Cocino - Recetas de cocina
    Portal de recetas de cocina en Argentina. Gran variedad de recetas clasificadas y organizadas por el chef Leonardo Rodriguez.
    This collection of recipes by course is in Spanish. You will find many recipes for pasta (there are many Argentinians of Italian descent) but also Comidas Autóctonas or traditional foods, including empanadas, and Comida de la Abuela (Grandmother's Cooking).

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Bolivia

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Brazil

Chile

  • Chile.com: Cocina A la Chilena
    A site in Spanish covering the typical dishes of Chile.
  • Chiloe Island: Typical Food
    The island of Chiloe is off the coast of southern Chile and uses lots of seafood and potatoes as well as pork and lard. In English.
  • Cocinando con Martita
    A variety of recipes in Spanish, including "comida chilena" with recipes for Cola de mono, Chicha con harina, Alfajores a la chilenita, and more.
  • Nuevo Anden: Recetas de comidas chilenas
    Chilean recipes in Spanish, including Alfajores, Empanadas, Humitas, Manjar Blanco, Pastel de Choclo, Pebre.
  • Papas Nativas de Chiloé
    This site in Spanish discusses the potato in Chiloe (an island off the southern coast of Chile) where they had 1000 varieties when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s.

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Colombia

It is not easy to find books on Colombian cooking outside of Colombia but there are some good ones. Villegas Editores publishes El Sabor de Colombia (The Taste of Colombia) in both English and Spanish, a lovely coffee table book discussing the typical foods of each region.

  • Café de Colombia
    recipes and preparation tips from the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia. In English.
  • Cocina Colombiana
    A section on Espacio Lation, this website offers a collection of recipes organized by course. In Spanish.
  • Colombia.com: Gastronomia: Colombia
    Typical recipes of Colombia. In Spanish. Includes recipes for envueltos de choclo, mantecada, pandebono, arepas de chocolo, bunuelos, tamal bogotano, cuchuco de trigo con espinazo de cerdo, ajiaco, sancocho and more.
  • Colombia en la Mesa
    A selection of very typical Colombian dishes including Cuchuco de Trigo and Changua.
  • Ocati: Colombian Tropical Fruits
    Ocati is one of Colombia´s leading tropical fresh fruit exporters to Japan and Europe. Colombia is blessed in being an Andean country (so it uses a lot of potatoes and root crops) but also a tropical country (so it has lots of exotic fruits like curuba, maracuya, lulo and tomate de arbol as well as yuca or manioc). You can see what these fruits look like on the Ocati website.
  • Terra.com Colombia: Recetas
    This major Colombian Internet portal offers an extensive collection of recipes in Spanish in every major category. For instance, there are 269 soup recipes. Included in each are typical Colombian recipes, including Ajiaco de arracacha, Ajiaco bogotano, Caldo de papas. You can also select recipes by region.
  • Universidad de los Andes: Comidas Tipicas de Colombia
    Recipes and photos of some classic Colombian dishes such as Cazuela de Mariscos, Bandeja Paisa, Ternera a la Llanera, Pandebono, Lechona, Mondongo, and Ajiaco. In Spanish.

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Cuba

Dominican Republic

  • Aunt Clara's Dominican Cooking
    History of Dominican cuisine, ingredients, preparation, stories and recipes of the Dominican and Caribbean cuisine This version is in English. See below for the Spanish.
  • La Cocina de Tía Clara
    Encontrarás aquí una guía completa para hacer los platos mas deliciosos de una manera simple, rápida y divertida, porque en estos días todos tenemos poco tiempo y menos ganas de pasar tiempo en la cocina. Comparte cada semana nuestras recetas, sencillas y sin complicaciones; encuentra datos sobre la cocina criolla, artículos interesantes y mucho mas en la única revista en línea de cocina en República Dominicana.
  • CEU Dominican Recipe Box
    Dominican recipes in English to download.
  • Cooking with Carolina
    Traditional recipes.

Ecuador

  • La Receta de Hoy: Cocina ecuatoriana
    Recipes in Spanish from this daily newspaper arranged alphabetically
  • Terra Incognita: Allimicuna
    "Julio Pazos Barrera nos entrega en cada edición de Ecuador Terra Incognita, interesantes artículos sobre el variado arte culinario del Ecuador." Articles in Spanish about typical food stuffs in Ecuador.

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Guatemala

  • Guatemalan Cuisine: Fiambre Slideshow
    This blog in English describes the Guatemalan Day of the Dead meal: "Fiambre, a salad made from cold cuts, all kinds of meats, fish, vegetables and pickled vegetables, is served on November 1st, after a visit to the cemetery. Fiambre is a cold meal of Spanish origin, possibly from the Extremadura provinces in Spain. Fiambre is a very special meal for Guatemalans and it is only available on November 1st and 2nd." The site has additional photos and descriptions of Guatemalan food that really make you want to visit!
  • Food Network: Global Cuisine: Guatemala
    Includes information about Guatemalan recipe ingredients and several Guatemalan recipes.
  • Quetzalnet: Recetas Chapinas
    Includes recipes for typical foods, particularly for el dia de los muertos. In Spanish.
  • Sally's Place: Focus on Ethnic Cuisine: Guatemala
    An overview of Guatemalan cuisine plus a few traditional recipes by Lou Seibert Pappas.

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Panama

  • La Prensa: Recetas
    A selection of recipes arranged by categories: Sopas, Ensaladas, Emparedados y roscas, Salsas, Entradas y boquitas, Platos fuertes, Postres, Bebidas, Cocteles, Acompañantes y aderezos. In Spanish.
  • Revista Sazon
    A cooking magazine from Panama in Spanish.

Peru

  • El Comercio: Gastronomia
    Gastronomy section of a Lima daily newspaper. In Spanish.
  • Cocina en Peru - Yanuq
    This fairly extensive website of cooking is available now only in Spanish. The Peruvian recipes are indicated by a red and white flag.
  • Epicurious: Going Global: Peru
    New in Peru: Reinventing the cuisine of the Andes. Article on current cooking trends from the publishers of Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines.
  • Peru.com: Gastronomia
    A variety of recipes in Spanish categorized into entradas, segundos and postres (appetizers, main courses and desserts).
  • Recetas de Mama
    This website offers a variety of recipes in Spanish. At the bottom of the page you can click on "Translate this page" and it will send it off to the Google Translater and turn it into English.
  • Sabores del Peru (Flavors of Peru)
    Web site de recetas de cocina peruana. This site in Spanish is by the Patronato del Peru whose mission is to conserve the cultural and natural heritage of Peru. If offers a wide collection of traditional recipes, such as causa, cebiche, chilcano, chupe, and more. Fortunately they are illustrated with photos in case you are unfamiliar with the terminology.
  • Yanuq: Cocina Peruana
    "En el idioma de los antiguos peruanos yanuq significaba el hogar, la cocina, el centro de la casa..." This website in Spanish, with an English version, was created to introduce the world to the sophistication of Peruvian cuisine. Included are "light" dishes and dishes for two. You can even save the recipes in your recipe box.

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Puerto Rico

  • El Boricua: Recipes
    Information about Puerto Rican food in English from a monthly bilingual cultural publication for Puerto Ricans. Covers the topics of Cocina Criolla, History, Vocabulary, Arroz (rice), Plátanos, Coconuts but there aren't many recipes.
  • El Colmadito.com: Recipes
    This Puerto Rican Internet store offers a selection of typical recipes in both Spanish and English.
  • Dona Mercedes: Pasteles
    "Pasteles is part of being Puerto Rican. It is the most cherished culinary recipe in our culture. Not having pasteles on our table during Christmas would be like not having Santa Claus or the three kings bring gifts. It's a lot of work but it's worth it." Similar to tamales made with platano, yautia, yuca, potatoes and pumpkin as the masa, stuffed with pork and wrapped in banana leaves.
  • Welcome to Puerto Rico: Food and Drink
    An overview of Puerto Rican food and some traditional dishes.

Uruguay

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El Salvador

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Venezuela

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