Welcome to my first ever attempt at a food blog, which I've been talking about starting for years. The initial concept was to do reviews of Baltimore restaurants, but now that I'm traveling the world it will be about my adventures in eating the local cuisine instead. I'll also share recipes and tips about what I'm cooking. I try to eat ethically (and healthfully) - for me that means I'm trying to avoid GMOs (click here for a list of thing you can do to take a stand and avoid GMOs, and check out my interview posted on my other blog, talking about the Are We Eating Fishy Food artivisim tour I recently did) and processed foods, and avoid supporting the factory farming of meat, otherwise known as the torture of animals - which has become so pervasive and cruel that businesses are trying to criminalize those would would expose it. So I'm quasi-vegetarian and on the road I'll try to eat local and organic. I'm also on a strict budget because I am traveling and have no income. So I hope this blog inspires you to make more ethical food choices and helps you save money.
I arrived in Belize a few days ago and made my way to Caye Caulker, the theme of which is "Go Slow" The pace of life is pretty slow here, but the service, thankfully, isn't, presumably because they're used to meeting the demands of tourists from the United States (apparently some South Americans don't like it when we call ourselves "American," so I'm trying to train myself out of it - but "United Statsian" sounds ridic).
I decided to treat myself to a nice breakfast the first morning on the island at Amor Y Cafe. Lonely Planet got this one right, although of course it's one of the more expensive breakfast places as a result. I had a cup of organic coffee with what appears to be half and half and real cane sugar. I order the waffles and they are whole wheat and delicious, as is the fruit they bring out.
Unfortunately though, the chocolate sauce with the fruit tastes like Hershey's Syrup, which is icky. It probably was Hershey's, since they have lots of food imported from the U.S. here (Belize is more Caribbean than part of Central America, not the least because everyone speaks English in this (former?) British protectorate). Therefore it was made with high-fructose corn syrup - almost guaranteed to be from GMO corn as well as generally unhealthy. Here's a recipe for how to do it better, homemade (full disclosure: I haven't tried it). Of course the syrup, which I do eat, is almost certainly made with HFCS too - sometimes you can't win. Hence why I try to make good choices but I don't beat myself up about it, because frankly avoiding processed food entirely is virtually impossible.
Overall though, this is a delicious breakfast for BZ $12 (which is $6 US). The place is cute - as you can see it has a view down onto the street from my stool up on the porch. At the time, I was the only customer in the place, as September and October are the slow months here.
It was delicious, although as a Buddhist monk told me, the only food that nourishes you is what is sitting in front of you on the plate, so I hope you enjoy whatever you are eating!
