Food & Cuisine in Isla de Chiloe
Food info sections | Eating locally
Food in the Chiloé archipelago is unique and quite distinct from the rest of Chile. This is true for the Lake District regions too. With a 5 km long coastline, one would expect seafood to be the primary diet of the people here, but it is not. Instead the daily diet consists of a lot of mutton, beef, chicken, vegetables, rice, potatoes and fresh fruits. Most of the agricultural produce is brought from Central Chile. Of course, all Isla de Chiloé restaurants do serve a selection of fresh seafood through the year.
A popular Chilote saying is 'why be a king when with you can sleep well and have all the food that garden and pigpen can produce'.
This Isla de Chiloé Restaurant Guide notes some restaurants in Isla de Chiloé you may wish to visit. Information about the most popular dishes of the country can be found by visiting our Chile Restaurants Guide. And to work yourself up an appetite, why not go on a bit of a shopping spree beforehand - good places to go shopping can be found in our Isla de Chiloé Shopping Guide.
Food & Cuisine in Isla de Chiloé
Chilean Food
Chilean food is varied and most of the ingredients are procured locally. The highpoint of the cuisine in Chile is the tender beef and fresh seafood. Some of the common dishes are humitas which is made from mashed corn in their husks, empanadas which is basically a meat pastry, and cazuela, a meat soup. The Chiloé cuisine is different and has its own specialities. A unique preparation which is cooked during feasts is the curanto el hoy. It is a mixture of different meats, fish, other seafood and vegetables that are cooked on burning coal under nalca leaves. Another dish which is primarily prepared during celebrations is the curanto, which like the curanto al hoyo is a mixture of clams, mussels, beef, pork, chicken, sausages, and potatoes cooked inside a hole in the ground over hot rocks. This is accompanied by chewy pancakes called milcaos and chapaleles (which are made principally of potatoes). Restaurants in Chiloé also serve a kind of curanto but they cook it in a pot and call it pulmay. Stews are common throughout the Chiloé archipelago. The lamb meat and hog fat stew called cazuela chilota is a classic. Cazuela de cholgas con piures is another type of stew which you can try while on the island.
Drinks
The choice of wines and liquors in Chile and the Isla de Chiloé ranges from the locally brewed to the world famous. Chilean wine is well known around the world. The most common drink in Chile and also in Peru is the Pisco, a type of grape brandy. The Pisco sour, Chile and Peru's national cocktail, is the same drink mixed with lime juice, syrup and egg white. In fact, Pisco is so famous that even gas stations and supermarkets sell bottled Pisco-based cocktails like the Monkeys Tail or Cola de Mono. Some shops stock the traditional Chiloé Artisenal liquors which are brightly coloured and brewed by soaking tree barks, lemon grass and mint in alcohol. They are claimed to have curative properties. Although the coffee culture in Chiloé has improved over the years, many Chiloé restaurants still only serve Nescafé. The only other option is to find an espresso machine and order a café-café or a café express.
Apart from the traditional cuisine which itself is a plateful, snack food is very popular in Chile. Some of the common fast foods in Chiloé are hamburgers and a local creation called Completo, which is a hot dog filled with avocados, tomatoes, onions and other local spices. Churrasco Palta Churrasco (a steak) and palta (avocados) served with aji chileno (which is basically a Chilean hot sauce) is another popular dish. Fries are served as an accompaniment with this.
A very common street food throughout Chile is the empanada which is stuffed with everything from apples to alpaca meat. In Chiloé, the most typical empanadas are made of shellfishes.
