Learn Spanish and Eat Well in South America (part II)

Chinchulines, Argentina. This didn’t actually appear on the menu but I was at a buffet style grill in Buenos Aires and as I had heard someone mention chinchulines a couple of days earlier I decided to show off my knowledge of cuts of meat. The name just sounds so funny that I had to refrain from laughing as I asked the waiter for some / one / a piece ( I kind of coughed over that bit as I wasn’t sure whether it was a countable noun or not). I was at the stage of starting to learn Spanish words that are a bit more complex and was very pleased with myself…until I saw the waiter return with what I could only describe as a piece of cow intestine very artistically coiled into something resembling an item that you could make a “when sausages go wrong” video out of. I am not knocking the stuff, as it was actually quite tasty and they tell me that it is a big hit with the locals, but had I known what it was I think I would maybe have steered clear.
Parrillada, Bolivia. I had just arrived off a long bus journey during which I had tried to learn Spanish words which might come in handy for my first day in Bolivia. When I saw the little “se sirve” boards outside the restaurants I realised that everything was called something completely different from what it was known as in the other countries I had been to. I had no idea whether to ask for “salchipapas”, “pique a lo macho” or “saice”, basically because I didn’t know what any of them were. I settled upon a “parrillada”, as I knew that this was a sort of grill. I sat down luxuriously, opened my trashy airport novel – book exchanges just ain’t what they used to be – and prepared for the arrival of a couple of sausages and maybe a slice of meat. I can honestly say that it is the first time in my life I have ever heard my food arrive before I saw it. It came on a huge, sizzling platter that made every other person in the place turn to try and work out where the large group of starving coal miners who had ordered it were sitting. As I sat furtively picking at huge hunks of meat I made a vow to myself learn Spanish food names as soon as possible.