Food

While in Belize we have experienced a variety of foods we have never tried before along with some long-time favorites.  At Pine Ridge lodge, the wonderful Belizean cooks made split-pea soup that was delicious on rice.  For breakfast, we had fry jacks, eggs and refried black beans.  That is where Ben first encouraged us to try his Belizean hot sauce, which was really, really, really hot!  On our way to Monkey Bay, we ate at Benny's cafe in San Ignacio.  Benny's had great food ranging from fried chicken to gibnut.  A lot of our meals have included chicken and rice, which is traditional Belizean food.  We have eaten a lot of fruit including mame apple, pineapple, watermelon and bananas.  We even tried a bite of cashew apple, which had a very strange, sweet taste that made your mouth dry.  We learned that cashews must be roasted or their coating is toxic.  The children at St. Matthews drink water and fruit juice in plastics bags.  They call these "ideals."  There are two places where they can buy snacks and lunch on either side of the school.  We ate lunch at the neighboring restaurant and had delicious meals that included escabeche, rice and beans and baked chicken served with corn tortillas.  The sodas here have REAL sugar in them instead of corn syrup and they taste amazing.  (Sugar cane is a major crop in Belize.)  We also have had watermelon, pineapple and soursap juice with meals.  We have discovered that Belizean food is often different, but always delicious.

by EC, MM, MW