A Foodie but a Goodie...Visually feeding your inner fat kid.

First off, let me start off by saying, "You're welcome."

As promised, the following blog will include descriptions and photos of some of the best food in Belize. For those that love food as much as I do, eating the local cuisine is one of the best ways to learn about other cultures.  While in Belize City, we didn't find a Starbucks, McDonald's, or any other fast food joint we'd have here at every block. Fast food in Belize City were little stands along the street that had prepared, kept-warm pots of meat, or items that can be quickly deep fried. I don't think I had any bad food while I was there. Everything I had was amazingly good.

With that said, let's begin...

Stewed Pork Meal

STEWED CHICKEN (or pork or beef) MEAL - This is a traditional Belizean dish, they refer to as Sunday dinner. I think I had this dish every other day I was there since it's served practically everywhere. A typical dish will have stewed chicken (or pork, beef, or fried fish), rice and beans, a salad, and plantains. Most restaurants or food stands serve this dish, and will vary only slighty. One thing I quickly learned while there: beans and rice vs. rice and beans. Totally different. If you order beans and rice, you will get white rice with a side of stewed beans so you can add to your liking. If you order rice and beans, you will get beans mixed with your white rice and cooked with coconut milk. The photo above is rice and beans. VERY yummy.

Salbutes (not my image)

SALBUTES - An awesome fried piece of goodness. It's a fried corn tortilla, topped with shredded meat, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. It's best eaten by throwing some Marie Sharp's hot sauce on it, folding it up, and devouring it.

Panades (not my image)

PANADES - Another piece of fried goodness, little corn tortillas, stuffed with marinated shredded fish, topped with chopped onions, and cilantro. Again, with the onions and some hot sauce, the panades and salbutes are winners. Since they are small, they usually come with 2 to 3 of each. Your mouth will say thank you, but your stomach might hate you later on. But it's SOOOO worth it!

Li Chee Fried Chicken

FRIED CHICKEN - When we asked where we could get the best fried chicken, all the locals said Li Chee. Li Chee is so popular that it even has it's own song...like a full on, 3:00+ minutes song rapping about their fried chicken. This yummy fried goodness tasted like it was boiled then deep fried, and topped with a sweet ketchup. The chicken was so juicy and tender it practically fell off the bone. The on-going debate within our group on our trip was whether Li Chee's fried chicken was better then Shun Feng's fried chicken. After trying both, I found that both were very juicy and tender, but what separated them was the seasoning in the breading. Li Chee's fried chicken had more of an asian flavor to it, tasting similar to fried duck, while Shun Feng's fried chicken tasted like American style fried chicken, like Ezell's or Church's. Both were really, really good...But if I had to choose I'd probably choose Shun Feng's fried chicken. It was so good I woke up a couple days later thinking about how I wanted some chicken. It's like there was crack in it. I'm just saying.

(Okay, just so we're clear, I'm FAIRLY certain there was no crack in the chicken. I was trying to make a point on how addicting the chicken became after tasting it)

  

FRY JACKS - These little pieces of heaven are light, puffy, dough pieces...deep fried. Served with breakfast, it usually comes with eggs, sausage or bacon or ham, and refried beans. I tried to have these every day because they were just that good. As I'm typing this I'm thinking back to them and wishing I could have some right now. I'd get some that were so puffy that I'd bite into it and the inside would be hollow, so I'd throw in my meat and eggs and turn it into a breakfast pocket. DELISH!!

The following are photos of the dishes that the group ordered at Habanero's Restaurant on Caye Caulker: 

Creole Voodoo Cakes - Seafood Crab Cakes

Samosas - Crispy potato filled pockets

I have no idea what this was...but Bev ordered it. I know there was a crab claw and skewers of some stuff.

This was my dish...Mayan Churrasco. It was skewers of shrimp, pork, and chicken served over a sizzling skillet. Why it was sizzling I have no clue, but it was pretty tasty. I'll be honest, I wasn't uber impressed, but it was good.

I don't see any meat in this dish so I think this is Milea's dish. I think it's a vegetable curry dish. I could be wrong though.

James's Cha-ala-ato-ob Baab...I believe this was a thick pork chop paired with a crab claw. Rawr.

Mariza's Brazilian Pork...A thick cut pork chop.

Josh's Chicken Satay

EA's Seafood Stuffed Ravioli. My second choice off the menu. In retrospect, I probably would have enjoyed this dish more than the meatfest I had.

Lauren's Coconut Encrusted Snapper

Here's to food. Hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as I had fun partaking in them. Now step away from your computer and go grab something good to eat!

Your food-loving friend,

Di