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Pacific and Highland Nicaraguan Foodways

Regional

Where most Nicaraguans live: the Pacific strip and the central highlands. NACATAMAL — the large Sunday tamal of masa with lard and achiote, pork or chicken, rice, potato, tomato, onion, mint, chile and sometimes olive and prune, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed for hours; a weekend and family production, not a weekday food. GALLO PINTO, rice and beans fried together, the daily base. VIGORÓN from GRANADA — boiled yuca, chicharrón and curtido on a banana leaf, eaten with the hands. QUESILLO from between León and Managua — a soft cheese in a warm tortilla with pickled onion and cream, served in a bag. INDIO VIEJO, the shredded-beef-and-masa stew. BAHO. SOPA DE MONDONGO. The FRITANGA in the evening street. And to drink: PINOLILLO and TISTE of maize and cacao, CHICHA DE MAÍZ, and cacao itself. ⚠ THE HIGHLANDS of Matagalpa, Jinotega and Nueva Segovia are COFFEE and dairy country and eat differently again.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

Languages: Spanish

What is recorded

  • The nacatamal is documented as a weekend and family production rather than an everyday food. Vigourón is documented in association with Granada and quesillo with the León-Managua corridor. Pinolillo and tiste are recorded as maize-and-cacao beverages of Mesoamerican descent. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Costa Rican Foodways disputed

    ⚠ Nicaragua and Costa Rica both claim gallo pinto. Recorded as a shared Central American rice-and-beans tradition with distinct national forms and no origin assigned.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.