three bowls of soup on a tile table Credit: Leigh Beisch
I’ve been enamored of soups since I was a child, when I learned to cook in my grandmother’s kitchen. My grandmother, Mita (short for mamita), lived in a grand estate on the outskirts of Guatemala City. I was a shy child, and I first discovered her kitchen while looking for the perfect hiding place from the large parties that filled her home on weekends. Soon, within those stucco-and-tile walls, I learned to make pastry, to shell beans and to cook with my senses—adding a little bit of this or that until a dish tasted “just right.” Mita taught me the foundation of soup—to make broth from scratch—and then began to teach me about different cultures of the world through food. I learned to make comforting, rice-studded stews, called asopaos, from her travels in Cuba; delicate caldos—soups with perfectly clear broths and chunks of meat and potatoes—that she had learned to make while she lived in Mexico; and rich cream-based soups called cremas, enjoyed during her many trips to South America. Sandra Guiterrez Credit: Chris Charles When my children were little, our family lived in Toronto, Canada, and I began to teach them about the world through food, just as Mita had taught me. Every weekend, we traveled “virtually” to a different country: we’d listen to the music, watch a movie and, of course, eat the food, which always included soup. When our tours took us to Latin America, we prepared hearty, potato-based locros from Ecuador and my favorite consommé with floating crêpes that I grew up eating in Guatemala. We cooked Brazil’s moqueca, a seafood stew rich with coconut milk and red palm oil, and taught our girls the importance of African culinary influences in our foodways. They learned to discern differ-ent flavor bases, or sofritos, like the tomato-based one used to flavor sopa de fideos in Mexico. We exposed them to indigenous traditions and ingredients through dishes like vori vori, a corn-dumpling soup from Paraguay. One bowl at a time, my daughters expanded their understanding of the world and of our Latin American heritage. As you cook the recipes gathered here and taste these soups, I hope they also offer you a little escape to Latin America, if only for a moment. Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Get the recipe Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Credit: Leigh Beisch Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Get the recipe Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Get the recipe Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Get the recipe Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Get the recipe Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Get the recipe SANDRA GUTIERREZ is the author of The New Southern-Latino Table, Latin American Street Food, and Empanadas: The Hand-Held Pies of Latin America. This article originally appeared in the January/February issue of EatingWell magazine.
three bowls of soup on a tile table Credit: Leigh Beisch
three bowls of soup on a tile table Credit: Leigh Beisch
three bowls of soup on a tile table
Credit: Leigh Beisch
I’ve been enamored of soups since I was a child, when I learned to cook in my grandmother’s kitchen. My grandmother, Mita (short for mamita), lived in a grand estate on the outskirts of Guatemala City. I was a shy child, and I first discovered her kitchen while looking for the perfect hiding place from the large parties that filled her home on weekends.
Soon, within those stucco-and-tile walls, I learned to make pastry, to shell beans and to cook with my senses—adding a little bit of this or that until a dish tasted “just right.” Mita taught me the foundation of soup—to make broth from scratch—and then began to teach me about different cultures of the world through food. I learned to make comforting, rice-studded stews, called asopaos, from her travels in Cuba; delicate caldos—soups with perfectly clear broths and chunks of meat and potatoes—that she had learned to make while she lived in Mexico; and rich cream-based soups called cremas, enjoyed during her many trips to South America.
Sandra Guiterrez Credit: Chris Charles
When my children were little, our family lived in Toronto, Canada, and I began to teach them about the world through food, just as Mita had taught me. Every weekend, we traveled “virtually” to a different country: we’d listen to the music, watch a movie and, of course, eat the food, which always included soup. When our tours took us to Latin America, we prepared hearty, potato-based locros from Ecuador and my favorite consommé with floating crêpes that I grew up eating in Guatemala. We cooked Brazil’s moqueca, a seafood stew rich with coconut milk and red palm oil, and taught our girls the importance of African culinary influences in our foodways. They learned to discern differ-ent flavor bases, or sofritos, like the tomato-based one used to flavor sopa de fideos in Mexico. We exposed them to indigenous traditions and ingredients through dishes like vori vori, a corn-dumpling soup from Paraguay. One bowl at a time, my daughters expanded their understanding of the world and of our Latin American heritage.
As you cook the recipes gathered here and taste these soups, I hope they also offer you a little escape to Latin America, if only for a moment.
Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Get the recipe Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Credit: Leigh Beisch Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Get the recipe Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Get the recipe Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Get the recipe Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Get the recipe Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Get the recipe
SANDRA GUTIERREZ is the author of The New Southern-Latino Table, Latin American Street Food, and Empanadas: The Hand-Held Pies of Latin America.
This article originally appeared in the January/February issue of EatingWell magazine.
Sandra Guiterrez Credit: Chris Charles
Sandra Guiterrez
Credit: Chris Charles
Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Get the recipe
Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Credit: Leigh Beisch Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Get the recipe
Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Get the recipe
Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Get the recipe
Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Get the recipe
Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Get the recipe
Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Get the recipe
Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup)
Get the recipe
Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup)
Credit: Leigh Beisch
Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup)
Vori Vori (Corn-Dumpling Soup)
Get the recipe
Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Credit: Leigh Beisch Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Get the recipe
Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder)
Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder)
Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder)
Moqueca (Seafood & Coconut Chowder)
Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Get the recipe
Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito)
Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito)
Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito)
Sopa de Fideos (Chicken Noodle Soup with Sofrito)
Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Get the recipe
Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup)
Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup)
Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup)
Sopa de Albóndigas (Honduran-Style Meatball Soup)
Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Get the recipe
Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup)
Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup)
Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup)
Locro de Papas (Potato & Peppers Soup)
Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Get the recipe
Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup)
Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup) Credit: Leigh Beisch
Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup)
Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup)
