Last week we talked briefly about eating different parts of the cow so that no food is wasted. This week I want to tell you about some of the interesting/different things I ate while living in Latin America. If it makes your stomach weak, just remember that you’re only reading about it; I had to actually eat them.

As I have mentioned earlier, when eating at someone’s home in Latin America, as I did 3 meals a day for two years, you should eat all of the food your host/hostess serves you or they may become very offended and hurt. (more…)

Culture: Don’t Waste Your Food – All Parts of the Cow!!?

In many of the lower-income pueblos in Latin America, resources to purchase food can be scarce. Latin America mostly consists of developing or so called third-world countries. Because of their low economic resources, Latin people usually don’t waste any food. In-fact, many will go to extremes to eat a lot of interesting parts of the cow, pig and other animals that most Americans have never even thought of eating.

After living in Latin America for two years and becoming accustomed to their way of life, I was shocked when I returned to the United States and had dinner with my family the first night I returned. It was reverse culture shock for me. I could not believe how much food they wasted. If they couldn’t or didn’t want to eat all of their food, they just left it on their plates and all of it went down the hungry and ever-ready food disposal never to be seen again. It is interesting to me that I used to do the same thing at mealtime before spending two years of my life living among the Latin people. In Latin America, because of economic conditions and lifestyle, they usually eat every piece of their food. (more…)

Every culture in the world (at least all that I know of) values “Health”, “Money”, and “Love.” If any of you readers out there know of a culture that doesn’t value health, money, or love, I’d love to hear about it.

These three words used together form a very small piece of Latin American culture, but in a way you might not have guessed. These words are said when someone sneezes! If you sneeze once, Latin people say “Health!” If you sneeze a twice, they say “Money!” and a third sneeze in a row brings “Love!” (more…)

When I was around 10 years old, living in the United States, I went to a movie with a friend. I didn’t have money to purchase food at the snack bar, but my friend seemed to have an unlimited supply with him. He bought a large drink, large popcorn and big bag of licorice but didn’t offer to share any of it with me. He went through the entire movie eating in front of me but never offered me one single thing to eat or drink. I don’t remember anything about the movie, but I do remember that this friend didn’t share even one single piece of popcorn with me.

I learned a great lesson that day which was again re-emphasized later when I lived in Latin America. Latin people will usually share anything with you, even if it is the smallest amount of possessions and food that they have. Many invite you to dinner or meals when they barely have enough food to feed their own families. (more…)

In the United States as well as in Latin America, it is impolite to eat in front of someone else who is not eating also. But, what do you do if you if you stop by someone’s home while they’re eating? If this happens to me, I usually say something like, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner”, or “Sorry to bother you during dinner time.”

This type of meal-time interruption doesn’t seem to happen as much in the United States as it does in Latin America. This seems to be because just about everyone in the United States has access to a telephone and people usually call each other before stopping by. In many Latin American areas, especially in the lower-income pueblos, a very small percentage of the population owns a telephone because of the cost involved. (more…)

In English, when we’re composing a letter that will be used as an example in business or in a textbook, we usually address it with, “Dear John” or “Dear Jane.” And, at the end of the letter we usually sign it, “Sincerely, John Doe” or “Sincerely, Jane Doe”.

John and Jane Doe, who are obviously married and model citizens, also have their names on government and employment forms as they show us, by their perfect examples, the proper way to fill out those difficult forms. Some of us tend to get frustrated as “John” and “Jane” seem to be the epitome of perfection in our society, and we are just the “average Joe” never quite able to reach their level of perfection. (more…)

Currently where I reside in the western United States, there are many rest homes and assisted living centers nearby where elderly people go to live. Within about a five mile radius of our business, there are about five facilities with one right next door to our building.

In the assisted living centers, the people that live there are somewhat independent. They usually have their meals cooked for them, entertainment planned, and transportation provided to go places. However, people residing in rest homes need more constant care, both physical and medical. Both rest homes and assisted living centers are usually very expensive.

When I lived in Latin America, I asked several of the locals if there were “rest homes” in the area. It took me quite a while to even figure out what the word for “rest home” was in Spanish, because only a few Latin Americans were familiar with them. After asking a few local friends, I finally found out that the word for “rest home” in Spanish is “asilo de ancianos”. The interesting part of that name is that “ancianos” means “ancient” or “elderly”, and the word “asilo” means “asylum”, “refuge” or “shelter”. So basically, if it is directly translated, it would be called an “elderly asylum” or “elderly shelter”. (more…)

In each of the Latin American countries I’ve lived in or visited, the people react to “el sarcasmo” (sarcasm) very differently than they do here in the United States.

In the United States the use of sarcasm is widespread and is used as a common, daily form of communication. For example, if someone you know purchased a new shirt that was obviously a little strange, you could tease them by saying “Nice shirt!” Of course, when you say “Nice shirt!” what you really mean is, “Wow, that shirt is a little crazy or strange.”

In Latin America, people generally aren’t used to hearing or using sarcasm with one another. For example, one time I was working with a native Spanish speaker who was wearing a very unusual sweater. It was definitely out of the ordinary and somewhat different. I said, “Nice sweater!” After I said that he looked at me with a thoughtful look and said “Thanks”. He didn’t understand the fact that I was using sarcasm with him and that I thought he sweater was a little unusual. He thought I was serious and was giving him a nice compliment about his strange sweater. (more…)