Street Food and the People Who Eat It

A lot of us on this trip are huge fans of The Travel Channel. shows like No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain and Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmern are my two favorites (although no reservations is way better, Bourdain´s a badass and Zimmern is a nice guy but kind of a goober). The idea of walking around a new and unknown city, chatting with people and trying mysterious and delicious local food is something that i had really been looking forward to on this trip. If it´s made from a weird animal, or a weird part of a familiar animal, or if it seems like it could potentially force me to become close friends with my host family´s bathroom, all the better. Most of the students on the trip have been reluctant to try street food for fear of getting sick, but a couple friends and are totally fine with that, because it means more for us! I´ve eaten skewers of grilled meat 3 or 4 times now, and I´ve never had an adverse reaction. It´s also freaking delicous. I don´t know what they use to season this chicken and steak, but it is unbelievably tasty. As long as a person uses common sense, it´s not difficult to determine a reputable, tasty, and relatively sanitary vendor from a not-so-reputable one. If a stand appears to be busy, selling lots of food to locals, it´s usually a good sign. If you come across a creepy man wearing a cowl in a back alley offering you a strangely colored piece of fruit, just turn around and walk away. DON¨T LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHO SAY YOU SHOULDN¨T EAT IT (unless they´re a doctor!). We were out with the host-brother of a kid in our group who told us "don´t eat the street food, it´s rat meat." I am so glad I did not listen to him. Grilled, seasoned chicken skewers with a hunk of fried banana are Cuenca´s hidden treasure. And i think i can tell rat from chicken.