My Significant Food

"File: Un cuarto de Pollo a la Brasa.JPJ" by Dtarazona

When one feels as if they their life is full of difficulties that are impossible to resolve at the time, they turn to the one solution that will certainly never fail, food. Once you start eating a meal or a little snack, all of your focus is on the food you are eating and how astonishingly delicious it is. The problems that have been causing you stress and despair vanish for a quick moment and all is well in the world as you eat. Well, at least that’s my strategy for dealing with problems that seem too much to bare, and my strategy rarely fails me. While food is one of the best comforters for when I’m facing hard times, I also enjoy it when I’m happy, excited, or feeling any other emotion. Especially when it’s the food that I eat, which typically consists of greasy fast food, vanilla cakes, chocolate bars, my mother’s one of a kind cooking, Peruvian foods, and spicy hot Cheetos. Out of the food diet that I created for myself, the one I have always preferred the most before any of the other foods is a delicious Peruvian food. Most of the dishes from Peru contain well-cooked soft beef, fried crispy shrimps, chewy octopus, and there is always has to be some sort of spiciness. It’s safe to say that I’m a fan of meat, seafood, and spicy food, which is the reason why Peruvian foods are my favorite. Most of the dishes from Peru were introduced to me when I was younger since my entire big family is from Peru. However, the one Peruvian dish that has had a huge impact on me and that I cannot live without is Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style.

Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style is a common Peruvian dish that I have I have eaten for most of my life, mainly with my family. The dish consists of roasted tender chicken served with a side of crispy yellow fries and a variety of sauces that can range from mildly hot to unbearably spicy. In Peru, people just call the sauces “ajíes,” which just means spicy sauces, not something real fancy. However, if one cannot handle spicy food, it doesn’t make much of a difference. Even without having any type of spicy sauce on the chicken or fries, the dish continues to be delicious and enjoyable. This is one of the most popular Peruvian dishes, but it is not one that you can easily make at home. For someone to attempt to make this dish at home, they would need to have uncooked fresh chicken, a rotisserie, a bunch of fries, a deep fryer for the fries, and spicy sauces that they’ll have to buy at a grocery store. If the cost, the amount of the time, and the dedication you need to have to make this dish do not matter to you, by all means, make Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style at your home. But, if you are a lazy person like myself, there are Peruvian restaurants in the United States that serve Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style. If one really desires to try the dish from their home, there are also Peruvian restaurants that give their customers the option to order take out or delivery. Personally, I prefer to have Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style delivered to my house because it’s easier and I am not very enthusiastic about of going out to a restaurant. However, if it’s a special occasion or holiday, I would be willing to go out with my family and eat this amazing dish. Nonetheless, the taste of the Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style is best when it’s made in a restaurant in Peru because the chefs in Peru have made the dish countless times and know what to do to make the dish the best it can be.  

Although the dish is one of the most important dishes in my life, I’m particularly selective about what from the dish gets on my plate and how I choose to eat. On my plate, there are only roasted crispy-skinned chicken legs, a bunch of the golden fries, and all of the spicy sauces separated from each other. The reason for why prefer only the chicken legs out of the entire chicken is because they are the best part of the chicken. The meat is soft and seasoned, and the chicken legs have so much more juice and flavor than the dry white meat that the rest of the chicken has. The sauces are separated because, since I have to get this dish in the U.S., there’s usually a chance that one of the sauces will not be as good as usual, or the other sauces just taste better. If I were to get Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style in Peru, all of the spicy sauces always taste correspondingly good. If all of the sauces taste individually good, I will normally mix the sauces together and dip my fries and chicken in them. When I begin to eat the Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style, I always have to have a fork and a napkin with me. It sounds fairly strange, but without having a fork and a napkin close by, I will not enjoy eating the dish as much as I typically do. I use the napkin to grab the chicken legs because, since the chicken is so juicy and tender, it is also greasy and oily. That’s how the chicken is supposed to be in this dish, but I prefer not to get all of that grease all over my hands while I’m eating. The fork is used for grabbing the fries and dipping them into the sauces. As I have mentioned before, I am not a fan of getting grease all over my hands, so I must use a fork in order to keep the grease and oils from the fries away from my hands as well. Occasionally while eating, I enjoy getting both the chicken and fries with the fork and dipping them in the spicy sauces together because they complement each other so well.  

The Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style has been and will continue to be an important and significant food in my life. It was one of the first Peruvian foods that my parents introduced to me and everybody from my uncles to my 2-year-old cousins love the dish. Both of my parents were born and raised in Peru, so, as the years went by, they have introduced to my siblings and I all types of Peruvian foods that they loved eating when they were younger. However, since they moved to the U.S. before I was born, the amount of Peruvian food they were able to show me was limited. Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style was one of the rare foods my parents were able to get in the U.S. from a Peruvian restaurant, and the taste of the dish was close enough to the original. Ever since my parents introduced Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style to me, my family and I continue to eat the dish whenever there is a special occasion, such as Peru’s Independence Day or my birthday. Since the dish is one of the most admired Peruvian dish, my love for this this dish makes me feel more connected to my Peruvian background. It gives me pleasure that I was capable of finding a way to connect to my Peruvian heritage, since I was born and raised in the United States. Because my entire family is Peruvian and obviously have a love for Peruvian food, I have been able to form bonds with my family members in the United States and in Peru. So far in my life, all foods from Peru are ones that have left me satisfied and with a huge smile on my face, but Rotisserie chicken has been part of my life the longest.

"Bird Over Potato" by Another Pint Please 

Since Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style has been one of my favorite foods for many years now, the way I eat the dish differs greater from how I have before. When I was younger, my parents would take me to a Peruvian restaurant in Georgia, and I would dip the roasted chicken and fries I the sauces with my hands without caring at all about how messy I was getting. There would be grease all over my mouth and hands, and it was challenging to wash it all away at a restaurant bathroom. As the years have passed by, my new way of eating involves taking precaution and trying as hard as possible to avoid getting messy. Also, I now have discomfort when eating Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style in restaurants where there are many people. The dish taste even better for me when I have the pleasure of eating the dish from the comfort of my home. When I do eat the dish in restaurants, I do not fully enjoy my dish because of the distress that I will get messy, and, as a result, I do not completely finish the dish. On the other hand, when I eat Rotisserie chicken at my home, I still try to avoid getting messy with my fork and napkin, but I’m not as worried about getting some grease or oil on my hands. Therefore, I have much more pleasure in eating and finishing my plate. Additionally, I assume people would find it strange that I need a fork and napkin to avoid getting messy while eating a dish that will logically get anybody who eats it a little messy.

Though I do not enjoy eating Rotisserie chicken Peruvian style anywhere but my home, this dish will always and forever be a cherished food to me. Since I was not born in my family’s native country, it is a food that has helped me understand a little bit more about what my family’s life was like back in Peru. This dish has given me numerous experiences, and I would most likely not be the person I am without it. In fact, most of the special moments that have happened during my life would not have been possible without all of the foods that I have enjoyed eating. For instance, my friends and I are always able to talk and get to know each other better every time there’s some type of food accompanying us. Food has helped me form all of the relationships that I have with my family and friends, and it rarely ever fails me. Even when I just want to stay at home and watch a movie because I’m lazy, food will always be there to give me comfort and joy. Without having food in my life, I would probably not have the type of life I have today or all the people in it either.

"Bird over Potato"by Another Pint Please... is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

"File:Un cuarto de Pollo a la Brasa.JPG"by Dtarazona is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0