What's the food and cuisine like in Nicaragua?
Indiana Siu - Operation Smile Nicaragua
The food and cuisine of Nicaragua is very delicious. The only thing is, much of Nicaraguan typical dishes are fried. For example, we have delicious fried bananas, fried cheese, enchiladas (fried tortilla with rice and meat), fried beans and fried rice. This would be the menu in a typical restaurant in Managua.
We also have a very popular dish that can be found when traveling to Leon (Nagarote o La Paz Centro) called quesillo,...
The food and cuisine of Nicaragua is very delicious. The only thing is, much of Nicaraguan typical dishes are fried. For example, we have delicious fried bananas, fried cheese, enchiladas (fried tortilla with rice and meat), fried beans and fried rice. This would be the menu in a typical restaurant in Managua.
We also have a very popular dish that can be found when traveling to Leon (Nagarote o La Paz Centro) called quesillo, which is a thick corn tortilla, wrapped around onions, sour cream, salt and quesillo, which is like mozzarella cheese. We have vigoron in Granada, which is a fried pork skin with casava and Cobb salad. In the northern part of Nicaragua, we have in the city of Sebaco, our famous güirila, which is is a kind of tortilla made with young, sweet corn.
Nicaraguan home cooking is very good. It incorporates lots of veggies, and we mix them with either our rice or meat. The base for our foods is mostly beans, rice and meat. We are not used to salads. Our beverages are also great. We have a lot of natural drinks; pineapple with rice juice being my favorite. Traditional food is not that expensive. You can find it from US $3 to $5. This would depend on the area you are buying it in or the quality.
Posted May 5, 2014
Darrell Bushnell
Food in Nicaragua is not always spicy, yet they always have a bottle of hot sauce on the table. The natives love beans and rice, but steaks, hotdogs, and hamburgers are very common here, too. We have a German restaurant, two Chinese restaurants, and one Japanese sushi restaurant in Granada. But in Managua, they have all kinds of restaurants.
When we moved here, we did not find the food that different. We love churrasco (grilled meat) and it’s great....
Food in Nicaragua is not always spicy, yet they always have a bottle of hot sauce on the table. The natives love beans and rice, but steaks, hotdogs, and hamburgers are very common here, too. We have a German restaurant, two Chinese restaurants, and one Japanese sushi restaurant in Granada. But in Managua, they have all kinds of restaurants.
When we moved here, we did not find the food that different. We love churrasco (grilled meat) and it’s great. It is a thinner steak than what you would find in North America. When we cook steak, we tenderize the meat a bit more because it is a little leaner here in Nicaragua, and therefore tougher than we like. The more expensive cuts of steak tend to be a rarity here in Nicaragua. The cows here tend to be a bit leaner because they are not corn-fed; they are grass-fed.
Posted November 16, 2014
Eugenio Cortez - Hacienda & Ecolodge Morgan´s Rock
When I went to the US to study, the number one thing that I missed was Nicaraguan food. I missed it more than I missed almost anything else, which I know sounds horrible, but it is the honest truth. You can find all the ingredients in Nicaraguan dishes in the US, but Americans just do not cook like Nicaraguans. So, when I went back to the US, I realized I can find all the ingredients in the supermarkets there, so I started cooking Nicaraguan food. I think...
When I went to the US to study, the number one thing that I missed was Nicaraguan food. I missed it more than I missed almost anything else, which I know sounds horrible, but it is the honest truth. You can find all the ingredients in Nicaraguan dishes in the US, but Americans just do not cook like Nicaraguans. So, when I went back to the US, I realized I can find all the ingredients in the supermarkets there, so I started cooking Nicaraguan food. I think Nicaraguan food all makes sense for expats in Nicaragua because they are all used to these ingredients; Nicaraguans just cook them in a different way.
Posted December 28, 2014
Esmerelda Vargas - Schuvar Tours
The food in Nicaragua is delicious! The meat here in Nicaragua is very special. Churrasco is the best meat that we have and the meat is very good. If people like meat, Nicaragua is the best place for all types of meat. Churrasco is one type of cut of meat, which is similar to the Argentinean style, where you get a lot of different meats. The churrasco is more common here in Nicaragua. The meat is very soft and delicious. We also have very traditional food...
The food in Nicaragua is delicious! The meat here in Nicaragua is very special. Churrasco is the best meat that we have and the meat is very good. If people like meat, Nicaragua is the best place for all types of meat. Churrasco is one type of cut of meat, which is similar to the Argentinean style, where you get a lot of different meats. The churrasco is more common here in Nicaragua. The meat is very soft and delicious. We also have very traditional food that everybody likes because it is not too complicated and it is not too different but the taste is very good. We have a combination of international food and Nicaraguan food, so people can find any type of food here. For example, if you want Italian, you can find places that offer Italian food. If you want Chinese food or Japanese food, you will find it. There are not as many choices like in Miami or other places, but you will find different types of restaurants here so you can eat whatever you want to.
Some typical Nicaraguan foods are gallo pinto, which is a breakfast dish. It is rice with beans and it is very nice. Nacatacamal is made with flour and filled with pork meat, and rice inside. It is very typical in Nicaragua and it’s really good. Another one is Vigoron, which is more typically found in Granada. Vigoron is a dish made of chicharon (which is a made of pork skin) and yuca. Chicharon is very crunchy.
For drinks, Nicaraguans drink a lot of cacao drinks. Cacao is made of chocolate and we drink that after meals. It is a very typical Nicaraguan drink. Another common dish here is quesillo, which is a dish where you put the tortilla and cheese together and you put cream on top and you roll it in a wrap.
(Churrasco, a variety of grilled meat, pictured.)
Posted May 5, 2015
Mario Robleto - SAENICSA Accounting and Tax Services
Food in Nicaragua is very different. It’s mainly rice, beans, and a lot of starches. You generally can’t get the same things you would in the US, and if you do get them they’re more expensiveHowever, we do get to experience some things in Nicaragua that you wouldn’t in many places in the US, for example, in Indiana, which is where I used to live. For example, there’s a lot of European influence in Nicaragua so, for example, one of the...
Food in Nicaragua is very different. It’s mainly rice, beans, and a lot of starches. You generally can’t get the same things you would in the US, and if you do get them they’re more expensiveHowever, we do get to experience some things in Nicaragua that you wouldn’t in many places in the US, for example, in Indiana, which is where I used to live. For example, there’s a lot of European influence in Nicaragua so, for example, one of the things I didn’t see back in Indiana is German beer, German food, or authentic Italian food; things that are not very common, at least, for example in the Midwest. But here in Nicaragua, you actually see these things and you actually have people imported directly from Europe. So in some cases, in Nicaragua, you actually have more diversity; it’s just different.
I don’t find that my clients have a difficult time finding the foods they want. What my clients have mentioned to me is that they’ve been able to enjoy trying new things in Nicaragua. This is typical of the type of person who comes down to live here; someone who has an open mind and wants to try something different, who is tired of the way they’ve been living for the past 30 or 40 years and kind of wants a little bit of adventure. They might not generally like it at the beginning but then they might try again and they start liking it.
(Erdinger beer, a German beer found in Nicaragua, pictured.)
Posted October 7, 2015