Paraguay

Quibebé , kiveve (Paraguay, pronounced the same), or quibebe ([ki'bɛbi], Brazil) is a popular dish of semi-sweet winter squash stew or purée in Paraguayan, Northeastern Brazilian, and the North-Eastern Argentina gastronomies.[a] It has a doughy texture and is of creamy consistency. Its taste is very pleasant and the primary ingredient is a pumpkin fruit that is called by the guarani name, "andaí" or "zapallo anco" of Cucurbita moschata. The fruit is a squash that may be elongated or spherical, and its exterior color ranges from green to orange, to reddish. The pulp is orange color (a color that in Guarany would be called "reddish", the translation of the term Kiveve), compact, of firm texture, and has a sweet flavor. Till the second part of the 19th century, it was very usual in the City of Buenos Aires and its area of influence. The origin of "kiveve" is located in Guaraní-Jesuit Missions.

Green mango chutney, also known as raw mango chutney, is an Indian and Pakistan chutney prepared from unripe mangoes. Ripe mangoes are sweet and are not used for chutneys as they are eaten raw. Green unripe mangoes are hard and sour, and they are cooked as chutneys. Mango chutneys are tangy in taste. The mangoes are peeled and sprinkled with salt and turmeric, then fried in oil along with spices. Water is added and heated until the mango becomes soft.

Spanish mayonnaise, made with eggs, olive oil, lemon juice and salt

Mbeju is a starch cake sometimes made with fariña or manioc flour typical of Paraguay. The recipe has existed since the 18th century and its origins lie with the indigenous Cario-Guarani people that lived in Asunción and its surroundings. The name "mbejú" means "cake" and comes from the Guarani language. Guarani is one of the two official languages of Paraguay, which defines itself as being bilingual and multi-cultural. The mbejú is bound to the Guarani mythology to be one of the most ancient recipes of this culture. Traditionally, there were about 16 ways to prepare it, although nowadays, 11 are recognized. Next to the chipa and the sopa paraguaya it is part of the so-called "tyra", a Guarani term for food consumed to accompany the "mate cocido", milk or coffee, or simply an addition to other dishes. Some revisionist historians point out that, during the colonial era, the German traveler Ulrich Schmidl was already talking about the recipe for that kind of starchy bread made by the Cario-Guarani people (a native tribe who used to live in Asunción). Schmidl was in charge of noting in the logbook of the Spanish ship in which the expedition led by Juan de Ayolas arrived, which would arrive in Asunción later, thus giving rise to the first encounter between Spaniards and the Cario-Guarani people. Before being known as mbeju, there was a menu that was already part of the varieties of bread that the Cario-Guarani natives had in the early days of the conquest. Back then, the food the Cario-Guarani people used to eat was “mbujape”, which translated from Guarani means “bread”. To cook the mbujapé, corn flour or cassava starch was combined with animal fat and then it was wrapped in a banana leaf and placed in the tanimbú to cook it.

A blood sausage is a sausage filled with blood that is cooked or dried and mixed with a filler until it is thick enough to solidify when cooled. Most commonly, the blood of pigs, sheep, lamb, cow, chicken, or goose is used. In Europe and the Americas, typical fillers include meat, fat, suet, bread, cornmeal, onion, chestnuts, barley, oatmeal, and buckwheat. On the Iberian Peninsula and in Latin America and Asia, fillers are often made with rice. Sweet variants with sugar, honey, orange peel, and spices are also regional specialties.

Savory rolls or roulades, filled with rice, beef, cabbage, there are also sweet versions

The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was prized for its large and unusually oily fruit. The tree likely originated in the highlands bridging south-central Mexico and Guatemala. Avocado trees have a native growth range from Mexico to Costa Rica. Its fruit, sometimes also referred to as an alligator pear or avocado pear, is botanically a large berry containing a single large seed. Sequencing of its genome showed that the evolution of avocados was shaped by polyploidy events and that commercial varieties have an hybrid origin. Avocado trees are partly self-pollinating, and are often propagated through grafting to maintain consistent fruit output. Avocados are presently cultivated in the tropical and Mediterranean climates of many countries. Mexico is the world's leading producer of avocados as of 2020, supplying nearly 30% of the global harvest in that year. The fruit of domestic varieties have smooth, buttery, golden-green flesh when ripe. Depending on the cultivar, avocados have green, brown, purplish, or black skin, and may be pear-shaped, egg-shaped, or spherical. For commercial purposes the fruits are picked while unripe and ripened after harvesting. The nutrient density and extremely high fat content of avocado flesh are useful to a variety of cuisines and are often eaten to enrich vegetarian diets.

Yeasted loaf bread, or made into rolls, baked in an oven above a pan of water

Loaf bread

Pan de queso is a traditional Colombian roll made with tapioca flour and grated cheese. It is served plain or filled with cream cheese or jam. This food is especially common in the Paisa region of Colombia as breakfast or parva. Pan de queso is one of the breads (along with pandebono and buñuelos) that is made with fermented cassava starch. Fermented starch allows biscuits to become light and voluminous. A similar food is prepared in Brazil, known as pão de queijo. Pão de queijo is common in the southeast of Brazil, especially the Minas Gerais region.

Pan dulce, literally meaning "sweet bread", is the general name for a variety of Mexican pastries. They are inexpensive treats and are consumed at breakfast, merienda, or dinner. The pastries originated in Mexico following the introduction of wheat during the Spanish conquest of the Americas and developed into many varieties thanks to French influences in the 19th century. The creative contribution of French baked goods to Mexico's cuisine peaked in the early 20th century during the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. Skilled Mexican bakers adopted French techniques to create new bread designs with colorful names. Today it is estimated that there are between 500 and 2,000 types of bread currently produced in Mexico. Among these are: A beso , from Mexico, is made by creating round domes on the top with a drop filling of jam in the middle.

A marraqueta is a bread roll made with wheat flour, salt, water and yeast. This type of roll has a crusty exterior. In Chile, the bread dates to the 1800s and it is considered a national food of Bolivia. It is served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and is the most common bread found in Bolivia bakeries. In 2024, marraqueta was listed as the third best bread in the world by Taste Atlas.

A marraqueta is a bread roll made with wheat flour, salt, water and yeast. This type of roll has a crusty exterior. In Chile, the bread dates to the 1800s and it is considered a national food of Bolivia. It is served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and is the most common bread found in Bolivia bakeries. In 2024, marraqueta was listed as the third best bread in the world by Taste Atlas.

A crêpe or crepe is a dish made from unleavened batter or dough that is cooked on a frying pan or a griddle. Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: sweet crêpes (crêpes sucrées) or savoury galettes (crêpes salées). They are often served with a wide variety of fillings such as cheese, fruit, vegetables, meats, and a variety of spreads. Crêpes can also be flambéed, such as in crêpes Suzette. The French term "crêpe" derives from crispa, the feminine version of the Latin word crispus, which means "curled, wrinkled, having curly hair."

French fries , chips (British and other national varieties), finger chips (Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are batonnet or allumette-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium or France. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and frying them, usually in a deep fryer. Pre-cut, blanched, and frozen russet potatoes are widely used, and sometimes baked in a regular or convection oven; air fryers are small convection ovens marketed for frying potatoes. French fries are served hot, either soft or crispy, and are generally eaten as part of lunch or dinner or by themselves as a snack, and they commonly appear on the menus of diners, fast food restaurants, pubs, and bars. They are often salted and may be served with ketchup, vinegar, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, or other sauces. Fries can be topped more heavily, as in the dishes of poutine, loaded fries or chili cheese fries. French fries can be made from sweet potatoes instead of potatoes. A baked variant, oven fries, uses less or no oil.

Cuban pastries are baked puff pastry–type pastries filled with sweet or savory fillings. Traditional fillings include cream cheese quesitos, guava (pastelito de guayaba) and cheese, pineapple, and coconut. The sweet fillings are made with sweetened fruit pulps. The cream cheese filling is also a slightly sweetened version of cream cheese, that resembles the flavor and texture of a cheesecake. The savory fillings are usually beef, but sometimes chicken or ham and cheese are used. The beef fillings consist of a seasoned but not spicy meat, made in a tomato-based sauce. It is typical to include raisins and green olives as part of the meat filling. It is also typical for a sweet glaze to be applied to the top of even savory fillings. The pastries are typically consumed at any time as a snack. In Miami, one can find many "window cafeterias" with customers having a pastelito with coffee throughout the day.

Cassava and minced beef patties

The pomelo , from the family Rutaceae, is the largest citrus fruit, and the principal ancestor of the grapefruit. It is a natural, non-hybrid, citrus fruit, native to Southeast Asia. Similar in taste to a sweet grapefruit, the pomelo is commonly consumed and used for festive occasions throughout Southeast Asia and East Asia. As with the grapefruit, phytochemicals in the pomelo have the potential for drug interactions. The pomelo tree may be 5–15 meters (16–50 feet) tall, possibly with a crooked trunk 10–30 centimeters (4–12 inches) thick, and low-hanging, irregular branches. Their leaf petioles are distinctly winged, with alternate, ovate or elliptic shapes 5–20 cm (2–8 in) long, with a leathery, dull green upper layer, and hairy under-leaf. The flowers — single or in clusters — are fragrant and yellow-white in color. The fruit is large, 15–25 cm (6–10 in) in diameter, usually weighing 1–2 kilograms (2–4 pounds). It has a thicker rind than a grapefruit, and is divided into 11 to 18 segments. The flesh tastes like mild grapefruit, with a little of its common bitterness (the grapefruit is a hybrid of the pomelo and the orange). The enveloping membranes around the segments are chewy and bitter, considered inedible, and usually discarded. There are at least sixty varieties. The fruit generally contains a few, relatively large seeds, but some varieties have numerous seeds.

Provoleta is an Argentine variant of provolone cheese described as "Argentine pulled-curd provolone cheese". It can be heated on a grill, or indoors in a cast-iron pan. The cheese is firm and can hold its shape when grilled. It was introduced in Argentina by Natalio Alba, a native of the Italian region of Calabria, who created this cheese inspired by typical cheeses of his region such as provola silana and caciocavallo, combining it with the tradition of Argentine asado. Small discs of locally produced provolone cheese of 10 to 15 cm in diameter and 1 to 15 cm (0.5 to 6 inches) in height are often eaten at the start of an asado (barbecue), before the grilled meat. The provolone, coated with flour and often topped with chilli flakes and oregano, is placed directly on the grill, on small stones or inside a foil plate, and cooked until part-melted. The provoleta may be seasoned with chimichurri, a mixture of oils and spices, and is usually eaten communally with bread.

Paraguay cheese is a cows' milk cheese from Paraguay. It gives the Paraguayan cuisine a high value in calories and proteins, especially in the salted dishes recipes, very characteristic of the country and an important part of its culture. It is a special type of cheese that is made from “curd” (a preparation that is made by mixing milk with rennet, part of the digestive tract of certain ruminant animals that secretes lactic acid during the digestion process), generally has salt and since it is made with whole milk, is very creamy and nutritious. It is soft and with some acid flavor, and can be preserved for about 45 days.[citation needed] The name “kesú paraguai” (Paraguay cheese) comes from the transformation of the words “cheese” (queso in Spanish) and “Paraguay” (Paraguay, as the country) into Guaraní.

Crushed, ground and toasted cornmeal, cooked with eggs, onions, vegetables, chorizo, cheese

Doughnuts, made with wheat flour and, for example, lemon zest, anise, covered in icing, rosquillas in Latin America are made with corn flour

A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders.

A salchipapa or salchipapas is a South American fast food dish commonly consumed as street food, typically consisting of thinly sliced pan-fried beef sausages and French fries, mixed together with a savory coleslaw on the side. The dish's name is a portmanteau of the Spanish words salchicha and papa (potato). The dish is served with different sauces, such as ketchup and mustard, crema de aceituna (olive sauce), along with aji or chili peppers. Sometimes a fried egg or cheese is added on top; it can also be served with tomato and lettuce, and is occasionally garnished with oregano. The salchipapa was invented as a street food in Lima, Peru.[A] Over the years, it expanded to other places in Peru. In Latin America, the dish's popularity has expanded beyond Peruvian cuisine, and is now also typical of Colombian cuisine and Bolivian cuisine. The dish is also sold on Argentinian and Ecuadorian streets and markets. The range of the dish keeps expanding due to the Bolivian immigration in Argentina and the Colombian and Peruvian restaurants in the United States and Chile. There is a variant known as choripapas (made with chorizo instead of sausage). They can also be found in Mexico. It is also very similar to the Mexican-American street food known as carne asada fries.

Caruso sauce or salsa Caruso is a warm sauce in Uruguayan cuisine made of cream, ham, cheese, beef extract, and mushrooms, and sometimes nuts or onions. A simpler version is a Béchamel sauce with spices, walnuts, and ham. It is served with pasta, typically cappelletti. A different and unrelated Caruso sauce, also served with pasta, is a tomato sauce with chicken giblets and mushrooms. Caruso sauce was created in the 1950s in Uruguay by Raymundo Monti of the restaurant Mario and Alberto in Montevideo. Monti wanted to create a new recipe in the style of Italian cuisine. The dish was named in honor of the Neapolitan tenor Enrico Caruso who was popular in South America during his tours of the 1910s.

Salsa criolla is a type of sauce or relish found in Latin American cuisine, composed of finely chopped sliced onions, vinegar, tomatoes, garlic, chili peppers, bell peppers, olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh herbs like parsley or cilantro. Salsa criolla is often associated with Peruvian cuisine, but also found in Cuban, Puerto Rican, Nicaraguan, Uruguayan, and Argentinian cuisine. In Peru, salsa criolla is a cold sauce typically used to accompany meat. The base composition is onion, red bell pepper and tomato, lime juice or vinegar and oil. Other ingredients can be cilantro, green bell pepper, parsley, garlic, etc.

A traditional tomato sauce made with tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, herbs and spices

Salsa golf is a cold sauce of somewhat thick consistency, common in Argentina. It is made from mayonnaise with a smaller amount of tomato-based sauce such as ketchup, as well as seasonings including pimento, oregano, and cumin. According to legend, the sauce was invented by the physician Luis Federico Leloir in the mid-1920s at the golf club of the seaside resort Mar del Plata. Tired of eating shrimp and prawn with mayonnaise, he asked the waiter to bring various ingredients and experimented with different mixtures. The favourite was ketchup and mayonnaise. Leloir's companions named the result salsa golf, and its fame grew. Soon it spread to neighboring Uruguay while also being common in Chile. There are several recipes, but the sauce is always mostly mayonnaise with a tomato-based sauce like ketchup. Seasoning is added to give the sauce an Argentine flavor, such as pimento, oregano, and cumin. The mixture can also include Worcestershire sauce and mustard.

Salsa verde is a type of spicy, green sauce in Mexican cuisine based on tomatillo and green chili peppers. The tomatillo-based Mexican salsa verde dates to the Aztec Empire, as documented by the Spanish physician Francisco Hernández, and is distinct from the various medieval European parsley-based green sauces. In the cuisines of Mexico and the Southwestern United States, it is often served with Mexican or Tex-Mex style dishes like enchiladas and chicharrón (pork rinds). The version typical of New Mexico consists mostly of green chile rather than tomatillos.

In North America, a corn tortilla or just tortilla is a type of thin, unleavened flatbread, made from hominy, that is the whole kernels of maize treated with alkali to improve their nutrition in a process called nixtamalization. A simple dough made of ground, dried hominy, salt and water is then formed into flat discs and cooked on a very hot surface, generally an iron griddle called a comal. A similar flatbread from South America, called an arepa (made with ground maize, not hominy, and typically much thicker than tortillas), predates the arrival of Europeans to America, and was called tortilla by the Spanish from its resemblance to the traditional Spanish round, unleavened cakes and omelettes (originally made without potatoes, which are native to South America). The Aztecs and other Nahuatl-speakers call tortillas tlaxcalli ([t͡ɬaʃˈkalli]). The successful conquest of the Aztec empire by the Spanish and the subsequent colonial empire ruled from the former Aztec capital have ensured that this variation become the prototypical tortilla for much of the Spanish-speaking world. Maize kernels naturally occur in many colors, depending on cultivar: from pale white, to yellow, to red and bluish purple. Likewise, corn meal and the tortillas made from it may be similarly colored. White and yellow tortillas are by far the most common, however. In Mexico, there are three colors of maize dough for making tortillas: white maize, yellow maize and blue maize (also referred to as black maize).