The calendar marks the Chilean Cuisine Day every April 15, an opportunity to enhance the culture of the country through its gastronomy. The goal is to show the world the culinary wealth that resides in Chile. A cuisine with roots mapuche which mixes with different European influences: Spanish, German, French and Italian. Chilean gastronomy is a perfect representation of its geography, full of contrasts that extends over its 4,329 km, the longest country in the world.
A Pantry with an Exciting Legacy
Chilean cuisine is a rich blend of ancient traditions and ingredients used by indigenous peoples, with European influences. All accompanied by Chilean wine, the country’s trademark and strong identity.
Only in Chile do you find dishes like curanto, prepared using a traditional cooking method originating in the Chiloé Archipelago. Its main ingredients are seafood, potatoes, sometimes all kinds of sausages and meats are also added. Everything is wrapped in nalca or mango leaves, plants native to temperate zones, and cooked little by little underground with hot stones.
Another very typical dish of Chilean cuisine is the caldillo de congrio, Pablo Neruda himself dedicated a poem to him. It is a soup made from golden conger, accompanied by different vegetables such as onion, potatoes, lemon or coriander. And if Neruda was inspired to write about this Chilean emblem, it’s because it unites a whole people around its traditions.
But we must not forget the empanadastrademark of all Latin America, which, in Chile, becomes ” pino empanada “. This version is made mostly from wheat flour, is filled with meat and onion, then seasoned with cumin and chilli, along with hard-boiled eggs, olives and raisins.
Finally, to finish on a sweet note, desserts are also well represented in Chile. Especially the cake curicana, one of the most typical and representative cakes of the country, originating from the Maule region. They are round doughs made from flour, which can be filled with almonds, walnuts or dulce de leche Chilean.
