#1: From Colombia: Nika's Culinaria shares a delicious recipe with step-by-step photos on how to prepare a traditional Colombian delicacy: Arepa de Huevo (Arepa with Egg)

My first experience with it was when we visited Colombia 25 years ago.
As in other latin american countries, street vendors sell all manner of things. We were on foot somewhere in Bogota, Colombia, and literally by the roadside there was this large woman sitting next to an enormous wok-like pot filled with boiling hot oil. She also had dozens of eggs and arepas. I didn’t really know what to expect when we walked up. I watched her cut open a large arepa…Read the complete post!

#2: From Ecuador: Erin in Ecuador and Elsewhere shares her experiences with Ecuadorian cuisine, specially "Ceviche," during her stay in that South American country as Ecuador's first IVP (International Volunteer Program)

Here I am below,  enjoying my first crab-ceviche, which is now my favorite of the Ecuadorian ceviches. Ceviche is usually seafood, "cooked" and marinated in lime juice. The Ecuadorian ceviche is served as a kind of soup, with tomato, onion, and limes and "chifle" (fried plantain chips) on the side. That was the second meal of the day (after breakfast…. and would be one of four!!… and I thought I ate too much in the US on Thanksgiving!). Read more…

#3:  From El Salvador:  Gluten Free by the Bay tells the story of how she became a fan of the Salvadorean Pupusas: The Day my House Became a Pupuseria! Learn how to prepare Pupusas de Queso y Frijoles Refritos, as well as the tasty Curtido de Repollo.

I was living on a tight budget and at just $1.65 each, pupusas were just about the cheapest and most filling healthy meal I could find. I recall reading an article that said the rule for making a meal of pupusas is "one for a snack, two for lunch, three for dinner." Sounds about right to me. It was easy to fall in love with these thick El Salvadoreño corn tortillas crafted out of masa harina, stuffed with cheese, beans or meat and topped with a spicy cabbage salad known as curtido.

This weekend my house became a pupusa factory. My friend Melanie came over for dinner, and we ate stacks upon stacks of pupusas con curtido de repollo. I filled some with a combination of goat jack cheese and cotija, while others were stuffed with both cheese and refried beans. Get the scoop now…

#4: From Nicaragua, American in Nicaragua writes about how millions of dollars are spent every year on poverty studies in Nicaragua, instead of using that money to feed the people in need.

About 4 years ago an NGO came to Nicaragua to do a big study on what people ate for food in Nicaragua, what were the typical daily meals.
They found (no duh) that most people had beans and rice for breakfast and beans and rice for lunch and gallo pinto for supper. Now gallo in Spanish means “chicken”, so the people doing the study figured that the people were eating better at supper, because they were eating gallo. Well, gallo pinto is rice and beans mixed together.

So for the millions of dollars for this study, the results were that people here in Nicaragua eat mostly rice and beans. Anyone here could have told them that for free. Read the complete story now...

#5: From Brazil, Brazilian Food Love:  learn about Maracujá, and a very unique recipe to prepare Cocada de Maracujá.

In Brazil there are over 150 different types of passion fruit, 60 of them being eatable and the rest are used within different medical researches. Passion fruit contains a lot of carbohydrates, vitamin A,B,C, calcium and important minerals and iron. A juice made of passion fruit is calming and anti inflammatory. Tea made from the passion fruit leaves can have healing effects on infections.