food in panama, breakfast picture post

[amw]

I know i've been writing a bit vaguely about the sad state of food in Panama, and i haven't done all that many picture posts considering all the things i have eaten. Before i continue my travels, i'll try get a couple out. This one is a themed picture post - breakfast in Panama!

Comments

[fauxklore]

I wonder if the fruit problem is similar to the fruit problem in Fiji. Namely, fruit is so common and cheap, that it is viewed as low status food. We found it hard to persuade our host families that we really did want things like papaya for breakfast.

I'm really surprised not to see rice and beans, or, at least beans, which were ubiquitous for breakfast in both Nicaragua and El Salvador.

[amw]

I've been hunting for rice and beans for breakfast, but so far i only found it at one fonda. It seems that the pattern here is to eat deep fried carbs for breakfast - plus eggs, meatballs or sausages - and then save the rice and beans for lunch.

[carriea31]

Oh no. I just couldn't do it day in and day out. It just looks like eating a dump truck for every breakfast. I am very sorry.

[amw]

Well, there is another option - the bakery. I didn't take any photos of those breakfasts because it's basically the same as bakeries anywhere else. Coffee with a ham'n'cheese croissant, or a donut-like guava pastry, or a sweet bun with coconut or raisins or something. That's much more doable, especially if you interleave it with fruit breakfasts made at home, although it's not really the popular local fare.

[spiffikins]

At first, when you showed the first photo of the holjadre, and described it as fry bread - I was excited for you - because you had previously been looking for fry bread!

But fry bread every day for breakfast is...too much fry bread!

I have not had to travel much for work, but years ago I was spending every week on site at a customer for a couple of months. I tried to find reasonable food to eat - but honestly by the time I got home Friday night, all I wanted was an apple or a carrot - just plain, real food that wasn't cooked, sauced, fried, or "prepared" in any way.

[amw]

I know, right? I feel like i willed this into existence by writing about my difficulties finding frybread in Canada and the US... Now i can have frybread every day, multiple times a day, and it is toooo much.

My mom's version of travel is to find a fruit shop or market stalls and just subsist on fruit while staying in a hotel. I do the same thing for at least one meal a day - sometimes two - but i still like to go out to eat some stuff just to get a feeling for the place. It's easier when there are street markets that actually sell stuff like prepared fruit, or restaurants that serve greens. Makes me miss China a real whole lot.

[opakele]

What is adult life expectancy in Panama? That does sound so unhealthy.

Eventually you need to eat an intact vegetable.

Very interesting, though.

[amw]

I'm not sure what the life expectancy is, but there are a lot of overweight people here. It's probably similar to the US, although it's hard to compare because overweight Americans tend to cluster in the suburbs so you don't see them as much downtown, whereas in Panama it's fairly evenly distributed across different regions. My teachers said that some people get cirrhosis here without even being alcoholics, i guess because of all the high fat, high sugar garbage food. All that said, i suspect the car fumes are probably more dangerous for city dwellers than the bad diet.

[olamina]

Wow this looks awful