30 days with one stove plate, one pot, some bowls, a knife, a spoon, and a fork. No refrigerator, and largely at the mercy of whatever happened to be fresh at the market. It was a challenge I held for myself, both to save money on food during my long term traveling and to see what I can come up with while living in a shack close to the shores of Laguna Atitlan.
On top of the limited kitchen supplies, what made it even more of a challenge for me and not just living life, was that where I was staying could be described as a food desert. These are places where access to fresh and often more nutritious foods are less available. Where as the more “developed” towns around the lake, often had at least one fully stocked supermarket with meats and a variety of fruits and vegetables, the smaller towns had markets of proportionate size that tended to be filled with chips, sodas, and various processed and canned goods. Eggs were plentiful, so were beans and rice. However, fruits and vegetables weren’t consistent. They depended on whatever was brought in from the previous haul and weren’t guaranteed to be bug or bruise free. Processed meats like deli ham and sausage could be found in some tiendas, but the more expensive, fresh meats were usually only available during an open market one day a week. And I wanted to be healthy-ish. My struggles with food insecurity in the past probably deserves its own essay, but while I’m traveling for an indefinite period of time, it was important to me to keep up nutrition and not blow my whole budget on meals in what was only the first stop in my travels.
While navigating what became an adventure of feeding myself, I got to learn more about two major problems that affect low income Guatemalans, especially those around the lake: malnutrition and diarrhea. It turns out that many residents around Atitlan still rely on the untreated water of the lake which is heavily contaminated by tourism and pollution. And what was once a lake abundant with fish that the surrounding towns were able to base their livelihoods off of, is now sparse of natural fauna. Fishing had largely been reduced to aqua-farming and day trips for tourists. What is particularly unfortunate about the smaller towns around the lake is that, according to a museum I went to in Santa Catarina and a conversation with one of its residents, a lot of the farm land that was used for both livestock and produce was lost to foreign entities that bought up the land for commercial use. And it was very evident while staying around the lake and seeing the beautiful hotels and resorts with the best lake views. As wonderful of an experience it is to be in these at times lovingly and artistically curated stays, the truth is also that is has likely contributed to the limited availability of quality animal protein sources and their prices around the lake.
However, this is not necessarily a resignation to what can be seen as the monotonous combination of eggs, rice, tortillas and beans that western travelers complain about (although, I find the combo delicious). If anything, it is an observation of living in a particular part of Guatemala with certain restrictions and one girls journey to shake things up while attempting to be semi-nutritious.
By the way, I truly loved my time in Guatemala for its culture, hospitality, beauty and adventure. It also happened to coincide with a time of healing for me and I’m very grateful for the environment it provided to do so.
The lack of convenience forced me out of a comfort zone I was wasting away in. No refrigerator, meant no way to preserve food long term. It meant having to cook many meals fresh (no meal prepping), more frequent shopping trips, and strategic selection of ingredients that would hold up in the heat. This was therapeutic in a way because it actually forced me to go on a grocery run every two to three days, get fresh air, and see the towns (I was located closer to Tzununa, but San Marcos was a doable walk I made every so often).
The limitations in cooking amenities and the inconvenience of certain ingredients led me to trying new ways to make things work which I found stimulating. I learned that there are a lot of things that can be done with eggs, rice and beans. I had also created a game out of seeing what I could do with whatever produce was at the shops that day. As a result, I feel like I have more economical recipe ideas to take with me for the future.
Other than the fun of experimenting with healthy-ish super budget meals, the challenge also had me revisit the not-so-fun conversations surrounding sustainability, poverty, health, and food deserts. This isn’t my first rodeo living in a food desert nor on a restricted budget. It actually reminded me a lot of my time in a suburb outside of Baltimore where the only grocery store within walking distance was a Family Dollar which, like the tiendas, had mostly processed foods and limited fresh, whole foods.
And just like Baltimore, the greatest problem I ran into was getting quality protein and not giving into the much cheaper snacks that filled the stores. Don’t get me wrong… I love “junk food” and do/will partake, but this month was all about the health conscious budget meals and limiting ultra-processed foods (UPF’s). My protein for these 30 days mostly came from eggs, beans, canned fish (sardines and tuna), and nuts. There was a granola cereal with peanuts that contained a good source of protein and eventually, I was able to find a protein shake with a whopping 15 grams, but I relied more on the aforementioned sources. I felt like my protein intake was lacking even without an added goal of muscle gain (I tried to stay active, but quickly gave up on any ideas of growth). So for the average resident, I can imagine how difficult and expensive it can be to maintain a balanced diet let alone major fitness goals. But that’s exactly what I wanted to highlight, the privilege of time and food access and how routines of eggs, rice, beans, and tortillas come out of necessity.
See, we can look at these food deserts as the culprit for bad diet, but the truth is pockets of poverty magnify the overall problems of society. For one, we as a whole have a problem with (UPFs), it’s just harder to avoid in food deserts. Two, eating a balanced and varied diet isn’t as simple as knowing what’s good for us.
However, tackling the problem where it’s hardest can benefit everyone. We already saw what it was like to have healthcare systems across the world at their brink. With the worsening of health trends that could further stress an already stressed system, I see us taking better care of ourselves, even relatively, as vital for society. A great place to start is with our food since UPFs are associated with obesity, increased risk of cancer, preventative non-communicable diseases, and cognitive decline.
But anyway, here are some of the dishes I was able to come up with ¡Provecho!
Not pictured: I had also made soups, burritos, and fancier tacos but didn’t take pictures. Whatever I had for lunch was usually what I had for dinner. Leftovers were not kept overnight, not just because of the risk of spoil, but because the shack was not enclosed and I definitely had some animal visitors at night.
Also later on some guys from Brazil showed me the magic of putting noodles on top of rice paired with eggs and beans. It was so good, I might try it again for myself. Another guy taught me how easy it can be to make carbonara. Just saying…the possibilities are many.
But as I mentioned earlier, these 30 days brought up recurring themes of sustainability, poverty, health, and food deserts.
Sustainability:
I was living on a cliff with inconsistent resources. It pretty much had me facing my own trash for an entire month and doing so would turn anyone into a philosopher. Packaging was actually a huge incentive for me to stick to the challenge and shop whole and local ingredients. Because you know what takes up a lot of space, especially over the course of a month on a cliff? The packaging from processed foods. Furthermore, I concluded: convenience is a regular foe to sustainability. While the fruits and veggies I received in Tzununa weren’t always perfect looking and not always available, they were Guatemalan grown, not shipped from overseas with the increased packaging and carbon costs that can come with it. Also, unlike the larger stores, eggs were not sold in a carton, they were sold individually and either put in bolsitas (little bags) or one can bring their own reusable cartons resulting in less packaging overall. And it really put into perspective what it actually takes to move towards more sustainable consumerism on a large scale. Inconvenience.
I look at America and how the majority of food comes in a package, but most of us don’t have to deal with looking at the accumulation of our ish for very long so we don’t get to see even a fraction of our impact.
Tangent: Of course there have been some amazing discoveries that can help with our non biodegradable consumption. I had met someone who was working with mushrooms that can digest plastics and there has been years of research surrounding wax worms which have enzymes that can degrade common plastics. Plus there has been a growing movement towards sustainable packaging that can also help transition to a greener world. One exciting project I learned of has been this plastic created by a company called Timeplast that can dissolve in water after a programmable amount of time.
And when it comes to food waste, there are businesses that purposefully sell the produce that would normally be thrown out for not looking perfect enough for the grocery stores. Additionally, there are organizations that collect surplus produce at risk of being thrown out from places like farmer’s markets.m to give to those who need it. But these types of innovations have yet to be widespread.
Poverty, health, and food deserts:
There is plenty of evidence out that links poverty, food deserts, and health disparities. But how does one reverse that? I look at the Guatemalan town in which I stayed and the various towns and cities where I lived and it is an oversimplification to say the answer is to provide these areas with more whole foods. Because diet is just as much a product of habit and convenience as it is access. Not just in this particular case, but I’ve watched fruits and vegetables get overlooked for the more readily available, nutrient deficient foods and have done so myself for the sake of time and convenience. There is also a matter of price and satiety. To convince people to pay more for what is perceived to be less is a hard sell and that is if we even have it in our budget.
Time skip: After Tzununa , I arrived in Panajachel, which has a plethora of restaurants and well stocked stores. I later got access to a kitchenette where I stayed, but honestly, the mental fatigue of making things work in Tzununa, although fun, left me needing a break from that type of creativity (allowing me to put more brain power towards art). I hate describing my approach to health and diet because there seems to be two camps that I find myself between. As health conscious as I try to be, I am still a foodie who indulges intuitively. It’s made it hard for me to fully embrace health promotion, as passionate I am about it, because I don’t believe in perfection and intuitive health is difficult without a level of detachment from unhealthy habits. My hope is to promote balance, self awareness (because we’re all different) and decrease anxieties around individual foods and meals by looking at lifestyle choices wholistically. Anyway, here is some food porn from Pana where I had limited access to a kitchen and food storage so I ate out more 😂😂😂. .
