Archive for March, 2012

Humita en chala

Humita en chala

Ramiro was born in the province of Santiago, a place where — if legend is true — no one wakes. It’s a running joke in Argentina that people from Santiago are always sleeping. When Ramiro was a teenager he and his family moved to the province of Tucumán where things are a little livelier.

I have never met a person more calm or serene than Ramiro. He’s an exceptionally quiet individual. He’s also very generous. He has allowed me to stay with him in his apartment for seven months now, in spite of the fact that I’ve broken or nearly tarnished every valuable possession he owns.

Sure he’s never here, and I’m basically the housekeeper, but I don’t complain. Ramiro has two sisters, one older and one younger. The oldest lives with her husband and three young daughters in Tucumán and the youngest lives in La Plata, Buenos Aires. His mother owns a clothing establishment, and his parents visit Capital Federal frequently to peruse the shops for clothes to sell in their store. Sometimes they sleep here in the apartment. Sometimes they don’t. But they visit. Often. If you catch my drift. Often.

None of them speak English. I don’t speak Spanish. It can get… interesting. I can never fault them on their kindness. When they visit they make lunch, or dinner, and are always observant that I don’t eat meat, and therefore make vegetarian meals. This is not something that I ask of them, and to their credit, in this meat eating country, they never complain. But then again, how would I know any better if I can’t understand a word that they say?

The whole brigade is in town this week and his mother brought over a food that I had never heard of before called humita en chala. Here is a little history lesson that I swiped form this blog. In 1879, the forces of Tucuman-born future president of Argentina General Roca wiped out most of the indigenous peoples that inhabited the Pampa, leaving the country with a predominantly European population. One of the few traditional recipes that survived from the native population was humita en chala and it was passed down from the Andean Incas and Mapuche tribes.  Today it’s considered a national dish filled with hot corn pudding spiked with roasted piquillo peppers.

Inside humita en chala

At first sight it just sat on my plate. I didn’t know what to do with it. Eventually I grabbed a pair of scissors, cut the string and carefully opened the contents to reveal a mushy substance in the centre. It was yummy and I helped myself to three servings.

It demonstrates that though a vegetarian diet in South America is more challenging, it isn’t impossible. Corn provides a lot of dietary fibre, and carbohydrates needed for energy. I am thankful to Ramiro’s parents for introducing me to this simple yet fabulous traditional culinary experience and for being remarkably generous while I’ve mooched off their son.

To finish this post I welcome you to listen to a song by the late Mercedes Sosa, an Argentine treasure.