Vegetarian in Montevideo, Uruguay

We miss Montevideo, we were living there only a few months ago and it already seems like years. So it is good to go back to the photos while doing this Veg* guide. But first a bit of sight-seeing: this is Palacio Salvo and we were all fascinated by it, especially Max. It looks like something out of a movie, or the tower of terror in Disneyland, or a great place for ghosts... anyway, we never got tired of looking at it!

Montevideo is a very livable city, we walked a lot and loved the old buildings and details (click here to see some of beautiful doors of Montevideo). Less should be said about the pavements, always broken and full of doggy poos :-(. The air in the centre is quite polluted too, and the traffic slow, but all in all this must be the most relaxed and safe capital city in South America.

But how about being a vegetarian here? I googled a few veg* restaurants while there, but they always appeared to have 'dsappeared" or were too far, or difficult to find. I guess guides need to be updated, so here there are only a few suggestions, mostly about places that seem established or food to buy in shops (after all we were mostly cooking at home).

But I was quite surprised to find veg* options in most city centre restaurants. We stopped at El Copacabana, in the main pedestrian street of the city centre, as it had quite a big vegetarian menu. The kids had pizza, and I had the veggie milanesa with salad. To be honest I am not a fan of fake meat, and this wasn't the best, but I was quite grateful to find it.

If you like this kind of meat replacements I found similar food in the large supermarket in Punta Carretas (a former prison successfuly transformed into a shopping centre). Even if you don't speak Spanish it is pretty easy to understand what the packets say. Sadly I didn't like any of them: these are the sort of things that I prefer making myself but, once again, it is good to know that they exist.

Much much much better are the veggie burgers (two types plus two veggie sausages with buns too) at the Bulebar. Our were tasty and full of roasted veggies, with a side of regular and sweet potato fries. And the smoothies are good too. Fun place, the kids loved it!

Then of course there are good market with fruit and veggies, see a few pics here.

And this is Martin, our local baker, we went there almost everyday after school to buy our daily bread (and a few pastries too). There is some good bread in Uruguay, but be careful with the pastry and pies, they may have pork fat, so remember to ask first! Our daily shopping also included the local supermarket, nothing special but it did have tofu, and soy milk, and carrot juice ... as well as many types of pasta, olives, different types of beans, dried fruit and fruit pastes, and nuts.

For a raw energy kick, one positive thing about Montevideo (and South America in general) is the great variety of fresh fruit smoothies - (mostly vegan). Here a few yummy juices (and other drinks) not only in Montevideo, but also in the rest of Uruguay, and also in Chile, Argentina and Peru.

In our Spanish school, La Herradura, they also do cooking classes, and for us they had a special meat free cooking class!

Clockwise from left: Making faina de zapallitos, a zapallito, salchichon de chocolate, fainas de queso (yellow) and de zapallitos (green).

A final note is for Italian restaurants: they are very common, with pasta and pizza everywhere, but please note: they tend to be very "creamy" and "cheesy". Most of the pasta we had was so cover with a cream sauce that the ravioli were swimming in it. The only vegan dish is usually spaghetti with tomato and basil...

Well, I hope that this was useful to you, and if you know the city feel free to add your additions in the comments :-). I miss you Montevideo, and hope to be back one day!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Riding like a Gaucho! Well... sort of.

Our Spanish school organized a trip in the countryside, about one hour from Montevideo, horse riding. I cannot ride, I have been on a horse before but that's all, but I had a wonderful time and did pretty well considering that they gave me the tallest horse! Did you know that in Uruguay you hold the reins with one hand only?  I guess that the other one is for holding mate! 

When we arrived at the farm we meet the horses and our gaucho Ricardo. Roberto, who took us there, also put on a gaucho hat as soon as he arrived, and I really wished that I had one too, just for fun. The kids can ride so they were pretty comfortable, and the horses were very sweet.

Vamos!

It was a good long ride in the country, among cattle and wetlands, splish splash went the horses and dogs, and it was great to be so high up on a horse no getting wet.

After the ride we all had Merienda, afternoon tea, with pastries and coffee and chocolate, and my favourite, a membrillo (quince jam) pie. 

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Doors of Montevideo

I love old doors, I have a pin board on Pinterest only for doors (and one for windows too...). In Montevideo there are so many beautiful doors, although they are so high that they are difficult to photograph. Anyway, if you are also a "door pinner" here is my collection!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Piriápolis, Punta del Este and Punta Ballena

Now is autumn in Uruguay, possibly a good time to visit the famous Punta del Este and the other summer resorts in the Maldonado Department. The weather is still nice but there are no tourists around. This is Piriápolis and we are not on the Atlantic Ocean yet, but still on the delta of the Rio de la Plata.

 From Piriápolis we took the coast route to Maldonado, the road was lined by sand dunes. The sand is beautiful here, and very fine.

 Punta del Este, about 140 km from Montevideo, is like the Montecarlo of South America, with many tourists, especially from Brazil and Argentina, owning luxury apartments and houses. But first I'll show you a few 'old and cute' aspects of the city: the charming blue church Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, located in the same square as the lighthouse.

This is the anchor of the Royal Navy ship Ajax, which took part in the 1939 Battle of the River Plate (Rio de la Plata). Its position marks the place where the Rio de la Plata officially ends (here in Punta del Este), and where the Atlantic Ocean begins. Now the water is no brown anymore, but blue!

Most of Punta del Este is super modern and full of designer boutiques and fancy restaurants, but you can still see old stuff. I especially liked the blue double container for sugar and yerba (mate) below.

The city and beaches abound with modern sculptures, and this is probably the most famous of all: the Monumento al ahogado, by Mario Irarrázabal. The name sounds a bit creepy (English language readers, can you guess the translation?) but it has been called many other things too, some more hopeful, and some just ... easy, like The Hand, or The Fingers.

Many Uruguayans told me that you come to Punta del Este to be seen (this is the resort for the rich and famous after all!) and look at this! Yes, the balconies are swimming pools. I love the idea except that... this building is in front of the port and the city's main street and promenade, basically everybody that passes by can see you in there, just like looking at a fish tank.

On the way back from Punta del Este we stopped in Punta Ballena.

We are back in the delta of the Rio de la Plata now, ready to head back for Montevideo. Next post I will move from the coast to show you a bit of the interior .

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Yerba Mate Class

15 years ago I was in Argentina and I bought a mate and a bombilla to drink yerba mate. I saw many people drinking "mate" in the street and I really liked the look of the mate (gourd) and bombilla (straw), but I never used them. My husband was also presented a set a few years back, time that we learned what to do with it!

Until a week ago I thought that Argentinians were the biggest consumers of mate, but apparently the Uruguayans drink more of it. The kids and I took a class (offered by our Spanish language school La Herradura), it isn't a drink that children usually drink because it is very bitter, but it has no caffeine, and they could try a sip. In Uruguay they say that a kid becomes an adult when he/she brew his/her first mate tea alone. But is is mainly a convivial drink: everybody "sucks" the tea from the same straw, and there is a bit of a etiquette to follow.

After the class I went straight away to buy some yerba to take home (it is well packed so I guess that they will allow it into NZ), and now I just need to find a good thermos for the hot water, so I will be able to offer you a mate. :-)

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Faina de zapallitos, a recipe from Uruguay

A couple of days ago I showed you a market in Montevideo and introduced the zapallito, a vegetable that looks like a round zucchini. Today I will show you a recipe we made during an Uruguayan cooking class (offered by our Spanish language school La Herradura). Faina is like a flan, but be aware: this is not like the faina that you get in pizzerias here (which is more like an Italian farinata made with chickpea flour - lots of immigrants from Liguria here!). These fainas are different and based on eggs an flour, plus different ingredients for flavor. A part from the faina de zapallitos we also made a faina de queso (cheese) and Arantxa and Max made a salchichon de chocolate (just like the Italian salame di cioccolato).

Faina de zapallitos

500g zapallitos

half onion

2 eggs

3/4 cup oil

1 cup milk

12 tbsp flour

1 tsp baking powder

salt and pepper to taste

butter to grease and breadcrumbs to sprinkle

Chop the zapallitos and onion, then put in the blender with the other ingredients. Blend. Grease with butter a 23 cm flan dish, then sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Add the mixture and bake at medium temperature for about 25 minutes. Check by inserting a toothpick to see if the faina is cooked. Let it cool down before cutting. The colour was beautiful! 

Clockwise from left: Making faina de zapallitos, a zapallito, salchichon de chocolate, fainas de queso (yellow) and de zapallitos (green).

You can also find the recipe for the faina de queso in the school's blog, just click here.

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Fruit and vegetable market in Montevideo, and where feijoas (guayabas) come from

There is a market on Tuesday morning, 10 minutes walk from home, and the prices are much better than the supermarket, of course, and the choice much better. It is quite similar to an Italian market, possibly with lightly less choice, but still many more varieties that you can find in NZ. This post's photos where taken by Arantxa.

Among the fruit we found some feijoas,  The name in Uruguay is guayaba (or guayabo like wikipedia says, the fruit seller told me guayaba and I will use this name), which I also take to be as a generic name for all guavas, although these are the first I have seen here (I guess it is the same season as New Zealand: Feijoa season!). Anyway, feijoas/guayabas are originally from this part of the word. Of course I bought some guayabas, and granadas (in the photos) and hongos (mushrooms, fubby enough they sell lots of Asian style mushrooms here!), and I am learning a few more names for fruit and veggies. One thing that here abound is rocket salad, probably the Italian immigrants brought it here!

The round 'zucchini' you see below are called zapatillos, they taste like a mixture between a zucchini and a cucumber and they can be eaten raw or cooked. I didn't know them, but I had a cooking class here and made something really yummy with them: Faina de Zapallitos, an original Uruguayan dish. But this will be the next post :-).

Photos  by Arantxa Zecchini Dowling ©