By IASP.
When visiting Santiago, I love how Anthony Bourdain mocks the LonelyPlanet magazine. Cause the best experience you can encounter in Chile doesn't come from the new areas designed for gringos to empty their pockets, but from those opened to share our culture and daily life. The same way how our complex history cannot be unveiled in the first five sections of Wikipedia. Anthony Bourdain is no longer with us, but it brings me great joy to rewatch his visit to Chile on the day of his birthday, June 25.
You can pay to watch the episode 9 of season 5 of Anthony Bourdain No Reservations here or look for someone who has uploaded it for free like here.
Anthony Bourdain starts visiting La Fuente Alemana ("German Fountain or Dinner"), not being my first option. Still, he is right by ordering what he describes as this "iconic standard barrel of every day Chilean gastronomy, this towering monument on its own. The heating pile of pork and avocado called the lomito." I cannot but agree with him. This magnificent result from the mixture of Chilean and German engineering brought us closer to heaven. This outstanding sandwich is made of two frica buns and generous portions of avocado, tomato slices, mayonnaise, and the lomito (steamed slices of pork). There is no comparison all over the World, and the lomito can only be found in Chile. If there is a list of seven wonders of cuisine, the lomito should be at the top of the list.
Estacion Central (imagine something like the Union Station in Chicago) is the leading actress of our capital. Like many other Chileans, I was told by my father that Estacion Central was built by the famous French engineer Gustave Eiffel (Eiffel Tower in Paris). It is not uncommon, to this day, to hear the same old story. However, the French company Schneider-Creusot actually designed Estacion Central. Yet, I can attest that this is one of the most beautiful buildings on Earth, and the similarity with the Eiffel Tower makes me want to believe that the myth is true.
Near to Estacion Central, Bourdain visited El Hoyo ("The Hole") restaurant-bar, known for the pernil, a slow-boiled pork leg, and the terremoto ("earthquake") -the ultimate summer cocktail. White wine, pineapple ice cream (sorbet style), and granadine. The terremoto deserves a whole entry here as a piece of art, so I will only make the precision that there is an ongoing dispute on the authorship of the terremoto between other restaurant-bar called La Piojera ("Place of Louses"). Bourdain's show bypassed any mention of that, but I blame his Chilean guide, who most likely is an evil patron of El Hoyo, intending to earn an ally for their cause. Yet Bourdain's words make me very happy (yes, I advocate for La Piojera) when he is trying an arroyado huaso and says that "this is truly unique and that [he has] never seen anything like this before. This is a really wonderful innovation." In every way, these words are phenomenal as coming from someone who has traveled across the whole planet trying every single dish he can eat. That's my favorite part of the episode.
But Bourdain also brings us to the uncomfortable corners of Santiago. To be open with you, we do not have a coffee culture, but a "nescafe culture," and there is no other decadent way to show this reality than explaining this at a Café con Piernas of Paseo Ahumada ("Ahumada Boulevard"). In brief words, a Café con Piernas is a mixture of hooters with Starbucks. I agree with the show on how creepy these places look in the eyes of a foreigner, but the truth is that those are everywhere in downtown Santiago, and take it or not, it's part of the whole picture. I'm not proud of it, but it's hard to hide. And yes, please, Colombians, I beg you, bring us your coffee when you come to Chile. We need this cultural revolution to happen sooner than later. I hate instant coffee so much.
Rodeos, popular poets, charquican, sopaipillas, mote con huesillo, among many others. It would help if you didn't stop visiting our vineyard tours, but there is a lot to see before taking a bus to Valparaiso on the third day of your arrival. Santiago has so much more to offer. For example, Bourdain visits La Vega market, one of Santiago's most interesting and colorful places you will ever see. Latin America is known for the crazy amount of spices, fruits, and vegetables bringing thousands of colors, smells, and tastes that you cannot find anywhere else in the World. To visit Chile without seeing our famous popular street market is a disgrace. Yes, it can be dangerous at night, but visit it around noon like any other Santiaguino (and don't be as weon like showing you USD 2,000 camera everywhere, please).
I solely covered a half-episode, but Bourdain already visited many of my favorite places of Santiago, often overlooked to try to show the most "nicest" parts of the city. As every Chilean, I find so much joy watching foreigners giving the attention that our culture deserves. My kind of people. Thank you, Anthony Bourdain, and happy birthday.
0 Comentarios