Hispanic Dishes Bring Variety to the Table

When it comes to Hispanic foods, Americans often think of tacos or nachos. Those foods are popular in our culture. Many people also enjoy borritos, tamales or enchiladas. Some of us even know somebody with a great flan recipe, but the truth is that many Americans are very limited in our knowledge of Hispaic cuisine.

I should probably clarify that by “Americans” I am referring to those of us from the United States. Naturally, our neighbors to the south are the experts on Latin foods and I do not know if the average Canadian knows, for example, that empanadas are pastry often stuffed with meat or sometimes with fruit, or that recetas is Spanish for recipes.

One popular dish in South America that is not nearly as well known in North American is cerviche. Ceviche is a type of seafood salad. A typical ceviche recipe consists of fresh, raw fish marinated in acidic citris (usually lime, and sometimes with other fruit juices). Salt and other seasonings such as chile pepper are also added. The citris changes the texture of the fish in the
ceviche, and this process is often considered to sort of “cook” the raw fish.

There is quite a variety of Hispanic foods. The next time you decide to serve something Latin, why not try something different? Why not consider ceviche or empanadas this week instead of taco night?