Though the humid heat can be stifling, I loved summer in the
South because in my family the season meant a garden full of crunchy green
beans, juicy tomatoes, fresh herbs and trips to local farmers’ markets to pick
up the fruits and veggies we didn't grow ourselves.
Lucky for me, living in Bocas del Toro, Panama, has been
like living in a perpetual summer filled with local agricultural products, many
of them new to me! Though I often offer to buy products from my neighbors, it’s
also culturally common for me to be gifted any of the local foods in exchange
for helping out on the farm or simply just stopping by to say hello. As an extra bonus for me- since I’m getting
the produce in my site, I don’t have to hike it in like everything else I eat!
So, what’s available here?
All year round we have cacao coconuts, culantro, bananas,
plantains, papaya, a scattering of peppers and rice, and several varieties of root
vegetables. Though yucca, dachin, name,
and ñampi are prepared similar to
potatoes, they have a richer taste (and come in shades ranging from white to
purple!)
Seasonally we also have pineapple, pixvae, orange, lemon, guava pods,
cashew fruits, soursop, and coffee.
In addition to the crops, most families have chickens for
meat and eggs. Families with access to a
little more resources may also have turkeys and/or pigs, and the most well off
families have a few cattle. Other than
chicken, meat is considered a special occasion thing. Add in the fact that we don’t have
refrigerators to preserve meat, and that means that meat days are big feast
days. Obviously, I’m a fan.
Cacao! My favorite local product, obviously
A local pod-like fruit with a delicious fruit
A meal packed to-go: fried pork pieces with boiled green bananas
Local products for sale and exhibit at a local agricultural fair
