Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TRADITIONAL DISHES
PANAMANIAN MAINS
Unless you are vegetarian, you should not leave Panama without sampling the country's
national dish
,
sancocho
- a tasty soup. Variations on the theme are served in many parts
of Latin America and even within Panama the meal is prepared in numerous ways; es-
sentially it's a hearty chicken-based soup with large chunks of yuca and other filling root
vegetables, or maybe even plantain and sweetcorn, flavoured with cilantro - a herb sim-
ilar to coriander but more pungent - exemplifying the Caribbean culinary influence. Oth-
er Panamanian variations of ubiquitous
Latin dishes
include the unappetizing-sounding
ropa vieja
(“old clothes” - spicy shredded beef over rice),
ceviche
(white fish, shrimp or
octopus marinated in lime juice with chopped onion and garlic plus hot pepper and fresh
coriander) and
mondongo
(a slow-cooked tripe and chorizo-based stew with plenty of root
vegetables, laced with garlic and coriander or cilantro), the latter a traditional dish for cel-
ebration (
mondongada
) with family and labourers after the installation of the roof on a new
house.
COASTAL CUISINE
With so much coastline, it's no wonder seafood is a Panamanian staple in both the Pacific
and Caribbean lowlands. In the latter, the Afro-Antillean influence is dominant - typical
dishes include rice cooked in coconut milk and seafood prepared with spices and judicious
amounts of lime.
Corvina
(sea bass) is the most widely eaten fish, but you can also find
snapper, grouper, dorado, shrimp, langoustines, crab and lobster, though you should refuse
the last four if offered them during the closed season (Dec 1 to April 15 in the Pearl Islands,
March 1 to June 30 along the Caribbean coast) unless you know they have come from a
freezer. Locally farmed trout is a speciality of the Chiriquí Highlands.
GREENS AND SPICES
While starch and carbohydrates abound in most traditional foods,
greenery
is scarce. Don't
be surprised if the salad accompaniment is merely a lettuce leaf supporting a slice of to-
mato and a couple of onion rings. Green vegetables are also conspicuous by their absence
in many restaurants outside the capital, though they can often be found in local markets.
Spices are generally used sparingly, but if you require more kick there's usually some
salsa
picante
lurking on a table to take the roof of your mouth off.
Breakfast
Panama's filling
desayuno típico
(traditional breakfast), aimed at sustaining workers for a
hard day's labour in the fields, offers a chance to boost cholesterol levels. Panama's deep-
fried favourites include tortillas (thick cornmeal cakes),
carimañolas
(mashed boiled yuca -
cassava or manioc - stuffed with ground beef) and
hojaldres
(discs of sweetened leavened
