I haven't written a food only blog post for a while and being the foodie (or food obsessed) person that I am I feel it is time for one. This is almost a total 180 on the steak and meat blogs of a few months ago.
I am not going to claim to be a vegetarian for life or even for a month but I will share a few thoughts that have been running through my head in the past week. In the past 2 years I have had a real appreciation for vegetarian dishes especially cooking them in my own home. A few things have helped this firstly a few years ago Nathan wanted to cut back his meat intake during the week and we started to experiment with some amazing vegetarian dishes and I would say that Monday to Thursday back home we mostly eat vegetarian (with the odd spaghetti bolognaise thrown in here and there as it is my favourite meal). Having vegetarian friends has also helped. When meeting Sonal and Fiona it is much better if I have vegetarian food as we can share and Sonal also introduced me to a fabulous vegetarian restaurant. Nathan and I also enjoy cooking for Natalie and Mike and trying out new vegetarian dishes (we have lots to cook for you when we get home).
We have always enjoyed vegetarian food but Bolivia and Peru have taken this enjoyment to a whole new level. The fresh fruit and vegetables in the markets have blown my mind, the mangoes that we have every day for breakfast are the sweetest, juiciest fruit I have ever tasted, the avocados are smooth and creamy, the tomatoes are sweet and dark. With all this amazing ingredients why would anyone want to add meat?
Now on to the meat. I have spent a lot of time in the markets this week and what I have seen has made me almost physically sick. The farmers bring some of the animals fresh and alive and then kill them there and then as they are ordered so the customer knows they are fresh! It was too much to see! Also the meat aisle smells so bad, so so bad! They have all the meat hanging up and the use every part of the animal so that nothing goes to waste. As I walked past I was trying to be quick but managed to snap a quick photo of the pigs heads to show Nathan, however when I later showed him he said 'Vicky they are donkey heads!' Oh my gosh! What food is made from Donkey heads?
The thing I do like is that it is real and it means you are making a conscious decision to eat meat. At least the Peruvians who live here in Cusco make an active decision to choose the animal, watch it get killed and then filleted or cut into the pieces they need for their cooking. I am not sure that in any real terms the chicken that I buy in Tesco and cook and the chicken I see running around in the field I truly make the connection with. I found myself looking at the chicken in the market that was alive an asking myself if I could go up to the counter and order it, watch it be selected and killed and for what? For me to eat? Do I need it to survive? At the moment my answer is 'No!' And if it is no at the moment when I am in Peru because it is very real and in my face then surely my answer should remain 'no' when I get home to the UK.
I don't think I am a vegetarian for life I think there is a very real possibility that I will leave Peru and I will be in a restaurant in America or Australia and the burger I order will in my mind be a burger and not a cow that I am selecting and watching being killed and the ignorance that I am eating meat and not a real life animal may come back. Although for right now I cannot imagine eating meat. I do wonder if all countries supplied their meat in the very real way the Peruvians do whether there would be more vegetarians in the world.
So now for the vegetarian food we have been eating, it had been out of this world. On Sunday we went to a vegan restaurant and for 10 soles each (£2.20) we had salad, seaweed soup, a main and starfish purée for desert. For main I had pumpkin stew with a stuffed potato and Nathan had a flat bread with a vegetable stew.
On Monday we were in the market nearest to the apartment we are staying in. For 6 soles each (£1.32) we had vegetable soup followed by puy lentils, rice and grilled vegetables. It was absolutely delicious.
We loved this place so much we returned on Tuesday for lunch and for the same price had the same soup to start followed by a main course that managed to outdo the meal the day before it was brown rice, potato stew and a vegetable fritter. Nathan even asked her how she made the fritter as it was so unbelievably good.
We returned today for lunch and intend on going every day until we leave as it is absolutely amazing. So really I guess what I am saying it that the vegetarian food scene in Peru is out of this world!