I want to share with you some of the traditional foods we have found in Chile. I love good breads and the marraqueta is my favorite bread here in Chile.
The basis of the chilean diet is not tortillas, as many assume, but bread. The one shown above is the marraqueta. This is the most delicious of them all. They are fairly large, each half about the size of a bagle, but lighter. Don't buy them while they are still hot because you end up eating the whole bag!
The most common bread is the one above, the hallulla, pronounced eye-you-yah.
These are good, but I am now sick to death of them! Chileans, however, never tire of them. They are life and breath to them! Give me a marraqueta any day.
This curious expression is used in the same way English speakers would refer to someone being born with a silver spoon in his or her mouth. In other words, they are born into a family without economic concerns.
A marraqueta (mah-rrah-KET-ta-and don’t forget to roll those r’s!) is a favorite type of Chilean bread made from French baguette dough, but with its own very specific shape. It can be divided into 4 parts (which I would call rolls), although for some reason that I’ve never been able to figure out, 1 unit is actually 2 marraquetas and each has 2 parts to it.
Like French bread, marraquetas are crunchy on the outside and very light and airy on the inside. They are often used for sandwiches, such as the very typical ham & cheese sandwich served for breakfast (yes… breakfast).
So what’s the relationship between bread and wealth? I’m speculating, but my guess is that it has to do with bread representing abundance, references to “give us this day our daily bread” and, of course, as good descendents of the bread-loving Spaniards, for many Chileans, bread is a must at every meal, so having that problem resolved at birth is a very good start indeed!
