Chile

Gastronomy and traditional dishes in Chile

The gastronomy of Chile is based mainly on a combination from the the Spanish cuisine with traditional indigenous ingredients, influenced by the Spanish colonial era and later other European cuisines, being one of its most important characteristics is the variety in flavours and colors of its recipes.

Chile's cuisine offers an immense variety of products and recipes vary from region to region.

Due to its location and its extensive coastline the Chilean gastronomy offers a huge variety of fish and seafood. Main ingredients of meat dishes is the lamb and beef served with salads or vegetables. One of the traditional recipes of the Chilean gastronomy in the northern region is the "cazuela chilena" a flavoured stock based on several kinds of meats and vegetables.

An elemental ingredient of Chile's cuisine are the corn-based dishes. One of the most popular dish is the "humitas", which is also traditional in other South American countries such as Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, which consists on flour and corn, cooked in oil. The traditional "pastel de choclo" is a pie made of corn and meat.

In Chile dishes are often accompanied with wine which is not surprising as Chile is one of the world's largest wine producers.