If you read our posts regularly, you may have noticed that we don’t tend to eat out.  This is mostly because we eat the best food at home and we have our own fresh vegetables, hand-picked on the same day.  On rare occasions, we will eat out in order to “do something different.”

The other day, we visited Coleman’s Cafe  in Big Falls to have lunch.  The usual Belizean food fare includes rice and beans, plain rice with stewed beans, chicken/pork/beef stewed in local spices and herbs.  The usual side of “vegetables” is coleslaw; in this particular food place, you can sometimes get callaloo which is a local green leafy vegetable.

This time, we were fortunate enough to have stewed gibnut on the menu.  Gibnut is paca, a ground-dwelling hebivorous large rodent which can usually weigh up to about 20lbs (10kg) ; they taste like suckling pig.  Their meat is prized in this country fetching a high price at about $8 per pound (compare this to local beef at $4 per pound).  Of course, we love it; in fact, I would say that it is actually my favourite meat.

The herbs and spices used in these stews usually include yellow ginger (tumeric), dried powdered chilli, cilantro or culantro and recado.

Recado is available in powdered form or in blocks and contain the following spices: annatto, local oregano, cumin, clove, cinnamon, black pepper, allspice, garlic, and salt.  The annato gives it the red colour.

At the cafe, they also had cohune cabbage, which is heart of palm (cohune palm) cooked in yellow ginger (tumeric).  This is considered celebration food as is usually served at parties and weddings.

For us, it is nice to eat out now and then.  In Belize, there is certainly a “eating out” culture in which the locals eat out for lunch every day.  This is why all Government offices close at noon, on the dot, so that all the workers can eat out en masse!  Salaried workers also buy their dinner as a “take out.”  The usual stuff is rice, beans and some meat and there is very little deviation from this.  Despite the lack of choice, everybody seems to be quite content with this food.  There are of course, Chinese restaurants in Punta Gorda which compete with this local food.  A popular choice among the locals is chow mein (if they are splurging out or trying to impress  a girlfriend) or fried chicken , which has gained the reputation, in Belize, of being “Chiney Food.”

Ok, guys have a cool Saturday night and if you are eating out for dinner tonight, have a good one!!