Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Soups & Stews
Soups and stews fill the working-class cafeterias advertizing
comida criolla
and offer a
genuine fusion of Taíno, European and African flavors. Many include island vegetables for
texture:
yautia
(tanier; a starchy tuber which is very similar to taro),
batata
(sweet potato),
yucca, chayote squash and
grelos
(turnip greens).
Sancocho
(Caribbean soup) blends these
vegetables with plantains - peeled and diced - and coarsely chopped tomatoes, green pep-
per, chilis, cilantro, onion and corn. Cooks then add water, tomato sauce, chopped beef and
pork ribs for flavoring.
Another delicious, common dish is
asopao de pollo,
a rich and spicy chicken stew
soaked in adobo.
A MOVABLE FEAST
Cheap, cheerful and indisputably Puerto Rican,
friquitines,
also known as
quioscos,
kioskos
or just plain food stalls, offer some of the island's best cheap snacks. Run-
ning the gamut from smoky holes-in-the-wall to mobile trucks that park on the road-
side, these kiosks offer fast food that is invariably homemade, locally sourced and
tasty.
The island's most famous cluster of permanent
friquitines
(more than 60 or so in
all) lines the beachfront at Luquillo (
Click here
). Other more movable feasts operate
at weekends in places such as Piñones near San Juan and Boquerón on the west
coast, although you can come across them almost anywhere.
Look out for
surullitos
(fried cornmeal and cheese sticks),
empanadillas
(meat or
fish turnovers),
alcapurrias
(fritters made with mashed plantains and ground meat)
and
bacalaítos
(salt-cod fritters seasoned with oregano, garlic and sweet chili pep-
pers). When it's hot, keep an eye out for
piragúeros,
vendors who s-ell syrupy
piraguas
(cones of shaved ice covered in sweet fruity sauces such as raspberry,
guava, tamarind or coconut).
Fruits
For a tropical island, there's not as much fruit here as you might expect, though Puerto Rico
grows and exports bananas, papayas, fresh and processed pineapples, as well as a bewil-
