The Food of Bolivia 133FOOD
Bolivia offers attractive diet options, from indigenous health
foods to Hispanic cholesterol. If you don’t wish to cook, most
neighbourhood family restaurants will allow non-boarders to
eat regularly for a fee.
It is advised to boil drinking water and cook vegetables to
avoid cholera and lesser disorders, though some seasoned
travellers have resisted such precautions and are still around.
If you need your fresh lettuce, supermarkets sell the safest
organic lettuce grown in greenhouses. In high altitudes,
cooking takes longer. In La Paz, we used a pressure cooker
purchased economically in the Huyustus.
Restaurants are cheap by Western standards, but if you
look for those that look like the ones back home, the prices
will also be closer to those back home. Lunch is the main
meal, and a good, hearty Bolivian lunch, including appetiser,
soup, segundo (main course), a small dessert (fresh fruit,
jello or fl an pudding) and tea or coffee costs anywhere from
Bs 5 (about US$ 0.70) in small, family restaurants, to Bs 20
(approaching US$ 3.00) in more
glossy eateries.
Knowledge of ingredients of
typical Bolivian dishes will help
you make your choices. Soup
haters will discover the soup-
loving self within when trying
The trick is to order the fi xed
price almuerzo, and not a la
carte. The best of the least
expensive restaurants are
often found in the areas
surrounding universities, but
most neighbourhoods have such
quaint or quirky restaurants.