Honduras - the original banana republic

"In Honduras food is tricky, there seems to be prevailing thought that all tourists want western food and that burgers and nuggets will fit the bill." Bacon is Magic

Which is perhaps an honest assessment of Honduran food, but my world tour is to try and discover what the so-called traditional foods of the world are. What the peoples of different countries supposedly eat at home, although these days, possibly they don't. Possibly everyone eats pizza and hamburgers, lasagne and KFC.

One thing you can say for sure of the countries of Central America is that the tortilla in some form or another reigns supreme. In Honduras it's the baleada - a tortilla wrapped around mashed fried beans, cabbage and salty cheese, plus various other additions - scrambled eggs seem to be a regular - to taste - and then grilled.

They are flour tortillas, but actually in Honduras the ubiquitous tortilla is generally a corn tortilla because to the Mayan Lenca peoples - the indigenous people of Honduras - corn is literally divine - and indeed they go so far as to say that humans were created from corn.

So yes - corn is a vital crop - as everywhere in Central America. Other common ingredients are plantains, coconut milk, yucca, salty cheeses, cabbage, oranges and meat and fish.

But first a little about the country. It is not a happy place - indeed a website called Together Women Rise - so probably with an agenda said:

"To live in Honduras, they say, is to suffer."

They may, however be right. On the Human Development Index, which considers 193 countries and is:

"A United Nations-developed summary measure ranking countries by average achievements in three key areas: a long and healthy life (life expectancy), knowledge (education levels), and a decent standard of living" -

Hounduras is ranked 138th in the world. It is estimated that 73% of the country lives in poverty and 53% in extreme poverty. There is a lot of violence - one of the highest national murder rates in the world - and on it goes. On top of that it is prone to cyclones and in recent years has endured two massive cyclones within weeks of each other which caused untold damage.

And what about politics. Well, of course it was conquered by the Spanish and, indeed was Spanish until 1821 when it gained its independence. Since then there have been many corrupt governments, wars against the Americans, and El Salvador, and undue influence from America which continues to this day. Their influence began with those bananas which used to be the largest export from the country - but all owned and run by the Americans. At this time there was an influx of workers of African descent from Jamaica and other nearby Caribbean islands, although many of them left when the American influence, which created the first banana republic, diminished.

In 2022 the leftist and female Xiomara Castro was elected as President, and seems to have made major efforts in all of the right areas. However, the constitution decrees that she cannot be re-elected, and so in 2025 - according to Wikipedia:

"In April 2022, former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who served two terms between 2014 and January 2022, was extradited to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering In 2025, Hernández was pardoned by the Trump administration. Nasry Asfura was declared the winner of the 2025 Honduran election, with Castro and both of Asfura's opponents, Salvador Nasralla and Rixi Moncada, alleging fraud. Roughly 14.5% of the electoral tally sheets contained inconsistencies and required a review."

The Donald was influential in this election pushing hard for the election of Asfura.

One last thing before I return to the food. The name 'Honduras' is Spanish for depths:

"The name could refer either to the bay of Trujillo as an anchorage, fondura in the Leonese dialect of Spain, or to Columbus's alleged quote that "Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas honduras" ("Thank God we have departed from those depths"). Wikipedia

In the light of all of the above, maybe the name is appropriate.

Also in the light of all of that I guess it's trivial to wonder what the national dishes of Honduras are - but nevertheless ...

How does the food of Honduras differ from that of all the other countries of Central America with their tortillas, their corn, chillies, rice and beans, empanadas and tamales? Well all of those things are also present in Honduras - although not so many chillies and one wonders why:

"Usually, Honduran cuisine is quite rich – thanks to creamy coconut milk – but is not as spicy as, say, its Central American counterpart, Mexican food." Big Five

Many say the national dish is the Plato típico - a mixed dish of:

"grilled meat, fried plantains, refried beans, rice, and a fresh salad. - Essentially, it’s marinated and grilled beef and pork sausages accompanied by pork crackling, marinated cabbage, sour cream, cheese, fried plantain, fried beans, avocado slices, and a mountain of tortillas." Celebrity Cruises

And in a way it's a sort of summary of all things Honduran - as is breakfast - a major meal of the day. It's also similar to the Plato típico without the meat - but with scrambled eggs instead. I'm not a breakfast person - unless confronted with a sumptuous and high class hotel buffet - as in Dubai - so I don't think this dish would be for me. Scrambled eggs maybe but not the rest.

Soup is big apparently and there are lots of different ones, but the top two seem to be Sopa de caracol - conch soup and Sopa de mariscos - another seafood soup. I think coconut milk provides the liquid for both, and there might be other vegetables - especially plantains, and maybe some hot pepper sauce. Conch is very popular and abundant in the Caribbean waters.

Still on fish - fairly simple grilled fish is popular - with plantain chips and often with a freshwater fish called yojoa.

And still on plantains - tajadas - more fried plantains - on a tortilla of course - but this time topped with cabbage and ground meat - often chicken. Cabbage is another common Honduran ingredient, which to me seems a bit out of context. But then maybe the Spanish are into cabbage. I also have to say that this particular dish looks somewhat revolting to me. I mean how do you eat it?

Two more - Tortilla con quesillo - tortillas stuffed with cheese. The difference between this and the baleadas, is that the cheese is simply slapped between two tortillas - not one folded - and then fried. Apparently a lot of Honduran food is fried. Of the photographs that I saw of this dish, most of them seemed to be topped with some kind of salsa as well.

Last of all there is meat and another national dish - Carneada. A variation on Carne asada. Although I am now wondering whether it is actually the Plato típico. Perhaps the Carneada is the meat part of the Plato típico.

Anyway it is grilled meat - usually skirt steak I think, marinaded in bitter orange, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and cumin I think. Wikipedia seems to think that it differs from its Central American neighbours with this dish in that it is:

"more of a social event with drinks and music centered on a feast of barbecued meat. The cuts of beef are usually marinated in sour orange juice, salt, pepper and spices, and then grilled. The meat is usually accompanied by chismol salsa (made of chopped tomatoes, onion and cilantro with lemon and spices), roasted plátanos (sweet plantains), spicy chorizos, olanchano cheese, tortillas, and refried mashed beans."

Which kind of makes it a Plato típico surely?

There are of course, variations on all of those other Central Americana dishes - tamales, empanadas, grilled corn, probably with little Honduran touches. And always a plantain or two from the banana republic.

Coffee, by the way, has overtaken the banana as the most important export and is still growing in size as an industry.

If those reports of poverty and violence are true however, I doubt that tourism is a big thing, in spite of the natural beauty of the beaches and the jungly interior.

THE FRIDGE PROBLEM

I'm ashamed to say that I have caved a bit today. I just threw out, the little bit of mayonnaise I had, and the leftover chicken curry I made - well I think they were probably at the potentially food poisoning stage. But on the plus side I am currently making chicken stock from the chicken carcass and I had a chicken sandwich for lunch. I'm pretty sure it was safe, as it had virtually frozen in the meat drawer of my fridge. Dinner will involve the leftover potato gratin to go with some sausage, beans and tomato concoction.

YEARS GONE BY

January 18

2025 - Bermuda - rum and fish, fish, fish

2024 - Hidden secrets = magic

2023 - Nothing

2022 - David's favourite soup

2021 - Missing

2020 - Tasting as you cook

2019 - Nothing

2018 - I don't like salad meals but it's hot, hot, hot

2017 - A history of granola that comes to this!