Peace Corps

March 23, 2013

A week of food in Vanuatu, part two

i) pounded roasted breadfruit with cream of coconut

ii) oatmeal and bananas

iii) breakfast cracks for life

iv) boiled crabs

v) watermelon

vi) crabs with taro, sweet potato and coconut milk

vii) breadfruit, roasted

viii) laplap - grated taro baked in banana leaves and topped with island cabbage and tin fish

ix) the worst thing i’ve ever eaten in Vanuatu: a heaping plate of rice topped with a stew of chicken flavored noodles, onions, peppers, tin tuna and flying fox (bat)

x) the cucumbers are huge here

Filed under Vanuatu island food culture Peace Corps Volunteer reblogs coconut oatmeal bananas rice fruit

21 notes

February 27, 2013

Some of the great food-related photos shared with us in our of today’s Peace Corps Week theme, Invite the World to Your Table!

Tomorrow’s theme is Foster Global Citizenship.

Filed under Costa Rica Nicaragua Moldova Peace Corps Week food Peace Corps Volunteers Returned Peace Corps Volunteers culture cultural exchange fruit beans and rice lunch

37 notes

February 27, 2013

sarahreichle:

Your Ecuadorian Fruit Education
Lesson #1: Taxo

One of my New Year’s resolutions and goals of year numero dos in Peace Corps is to try more Ecuadorian fruit. It’s not as if I don’t eat a bastante amount of fruit here, I really do. I just usually stick to the basics like mango, pineapple, papaya, grapefruit and oranges. I’ve tried other fruits here of course but I don’t usually buy them on my own… but that’s all about to change! I have a brand-spanking new blender with a juicer too! It would be a complete waste not to use it and to not aprovechar my time down here with trying delicious tropical fruits. So, get ready for installment one in your Ecuadorian fruit education!

Up first is taxo. I’m not sure what taxo is called in English or if there even is an English translation. It’s a strange yellow fruit that’s about 3 inches long and shaped like some large gorilla finger or a fat stumpy cigar. When you cut it open, the insides look like a pomegranate or maracuyá with the orange, gelatinous fruit surrounding many small black seeds. Taxo is basically only used in juices but as the lady at the fruit stand tells me, you can also cut it open and chupar (suck) the fruit out. According to my awesome Peace Corps cookbook, it’s also used as a topping for ice cream but since I had no ice cream around the house, I settled for making juice.

I cut them open, scooped out the insides and put it my blender with a bit of water. After blending for a bit, you simply strain out the seeds and bam, you have jugo de taxo! I added some sugar to the juice primarily because I’ve integrated here and you can’t drink anything without copious amounts of sugar added and secondly because taxo does have a slightly sour taste that needs some sweetness added. Overall, not my favorite Ecua-fruit and it probably wouldn’t be my first juice choice but taxo definitely has an interesting flavor and unlike any fruits I would typically eat in the States.