Encarnaçian cuisine

Encarnaçian cuisine includes a combination of different roots, traditions and cooking techniques based on many different cultures such as the local island Taino, Jungastian cuisine and other influences from across the world. Ingredients of Encarnaçian cuisine originate from all over the world, ranging from native island ingredients to imported ones from Kesh and Artemia. As previously mentioned, the islands' cooking is influenced by many backgrounds, specially Jungastian cuisine which it uses as a foundation to further expand upon.

Many dishes are variations of on cuisines brought from abroad, such as Albaterran cuisine imported by indentured workers through the country's early colonial history which were then modified to incorporate locally available ingredients and spices that were otherwise unavailable at the time outside of Albaterra. Popular national dishes include Leitão (roasted pork), Bolos, Arroz Doce, Salsipapai and many others. Pastries are also popular in the country, such as.

History
The primary cornerstone of Encarnaçian cuisine is Jungastian cooking tradition, of which it derives most of its own traditions and techniques. The second cornerstone is generally agreed to be Taino cuisine, from which Encarnaçians borrow many ingredients and traditional recipes. Jungastians brought many dishes to Encarnação such as Leitão, Pork Chops, and many other pork-based meals, Crianças Embrulhadas, Chá de peixe and many others. These Artemian dishes brought into Encarnação were primarily fish-based due to the island's abundance of fish on its coastlines. Albaterrans also brought many of their own dishes to the island with the introduction of indentured labour such as XXX, XXX and XXX.

Many parts of the Encarnaçian Cozinha Crioula are inherited from local Taino traditional meals, such as the many tropical roots and tubers like tar) and especially cassava. Tapioca is commonly used to make thin breads, and peppers such as Ajicinho (A type of habanero pepper) are used to spice meals. Peanuts, guavas, pineapples, cocoplum, mamoncillo, guinea arrowroot, tropical pumpkins, and guanabanas are also common ingredients in many native Taino meals. The Taino grew a large variety of beans and maize, with maize/corn forming an integral part of the local Taino's cooking too. Another more exotic aspect of Taino cuisine in the island is the consumption of insects, with insects being primarily used to make sauces and gravies with which to accompany a main meal. Examples include grasshopper and flying ant based sauces. Other insects are also sometimes fried and eaten or consumed raw.

Popular Dishes
There are many popular dishes in Encarnação, too many to properly document in this article, some examples of the most popular however include the following:

Main courses

 * Leitão - Roasted pork.
 * Salsipapai - Sliced pork sausage with fries.
 * Fish Escabeche - Marinated fish.
 * Pork Chops
 * Meat Jerky
 * Peixefrito - Fried, breaded fish. Generally served with fries and sold in fast food restaurants.
 * Cow foot with broad beans
 * Crianças Embrulhadas - Boiled and fried unriped lady (finger) banana or red dwarf banana. Once the banana is boiled it is then coated with flour, baking powder, milk, sofrito, orégano and spices. The bananas are then fried until golden-brown.
 * Serenata de Bacalhau – Salted cod cooked with local roots and tubers, which are also seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil. Served with hard boiled eggs or avocado.

Soups

 * Sopa de Amendoim - Crushed or processed peanut with milk or water.
 * Beef soup
 * Chicken soup
 * Corn soup
 * Cow heel soup
 * Chá de peixe  - ground yam, pumpkin, cassava, potatoes and green bananas, cooked until very soft. As much as 15 pounds of fish is added to make five gallons. Carrots and cho–cho can also be added.
 * Janga soup - Crayfish soup.
 * Pepperpot - A stewed meat dish, strongly flavoured with cinnamon, cassareep (a special sauce made from the cassava root) and other basic ingredients, including Ingonian hot peppers. Beef, pork, and mutton are the most popular meats used.
 * Pumpkin soup

Side dishes

 * Bolos - Similar to tamale
 * Dumplings - Generally larger than the varieties seen in Kesh.
 * Empanada - Baked or fried turnover consisting of pastry and filling.
 * Fried plantain - Very common street snack.
 * Banana verde - Green unripe plantains.
 * Cooked rice - Commonly served as a cheap and filling side dish to many meals.
 * Salada de batata - Potato salad. Generally mixed with mayonnaise to give a creamy texture.
 * Bammy - Cassava flatbread.

Desserts and Sweets

 * Braço cigano - Rolled sponge cake filled with guava jam.
 * Cheese muffins – Muffins made with queso blanco and fruit paste.
 * Doce de leite - Doce de leite is commonly made with key lime peels or with added coconut milk.
 * Goiaba frita -  It is made by cooking flour with milk and sugar until it thickens to a firm dough which is then portioned, fried and served with a sugar glaze and cinnamon powder. Guaba is later added to give it its special Encarnaçian flavor.
 * Omelete doce - Sweet cassava tortilla. Cassava is peeled, grated and squeezed threw a cheese cloth to make a fine flour. The cassava flour is then cooked in milk and left to cool down. Once cool the cassava is then cooked once more with coconut milk, cinnamon, sugar, ginger, butter, and anise. The dough is divided into small balls and flatten onto a plantain leaf that has been buttered. The dough is then cooked in a cast-iron skillet until it has browned lightly.
 * Mango and soursop ice cream - Two common flavors special to Encarnação
 * Tamarind balls - Candy made with the sticky flesh of the fruit rolled with brown sugar into round sweet and sour balls.
 * Sweet potato pudding
 * Cornmeal pudding

Beverages
The most commonly consumed drinks in the country are generally alcoholic, primarily beer and rum. Still, many tropical and more exotic drinks are consumed on the island, primarily by tourists. Coffee is widely available on most Encarnaçian homes and is extensively used in beverages generally drank on the morning to wake one up and get energy for the rest of the day. Smoothies made from a wide variety of fruits and sometimes vegetables, known as "batidos" in the island, are also commonly drank as refreshment through the afternoon and are sold in street stands and restaurants alike. Teas are also common, with hibiscus tea being widely consumed across the island both hot and cold. Soft drinks are widely consumed too, such as the locally famous non-alcoholic Malta Aborígene brand of malt-based fizzy drinks brewed from hops or barley depending on the recipe used.


 * Carrot juice - With spices such as nutmeg and vanilla
 * Many different tropical cocktails
 * Chocolate quente - Spiced hot chocolate
 * Bebida de aveia - Oatmeal drink made with toasted oatmeal, milk, ginger, orange peels, cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar, and vanilla.
 * Ginger beer
 * Rum
 * Hibiscus tea
 * Bebida de tamarindo - Tamarind drink made with brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, ginger, star anise and if desired carbonated water.
 * Coquinho - Cream of coconut, evaporated milk, condensed milk, white rum, cinnamon and vanilla.

Insect consumption
The consumption of insects is very popular across the rural areas of the country but very rare on urban areas. Many different species of insects are consumed on the island, but only a select number are used as ingredients in larger dishes and not just as snacks. Grasshoppers and ants are generally consumed either fried on fat or sauteed with butter as snacks or as an entree to a main meal, or they are crushed and mixed with other ingredients to make sauces and gravies or add a special flavor to other meals. Insects are used as an ingredient in meals such as bolos, dumplings and empanadas or used with sauces or gravies to accompany pastas and noodles or meats. They are also sometimes fried or sauteed and mixed with rice as a side dish to a main meal.

The history of the consumption of insects in the island is turbulent, with many past government in the colonial era of the nation taking actions to try and discourage their consumption due to ultimately unfounded fears over the spread of disease and the believed unsanitary nature of insects. While never outright banned, many campaigns were launched by the colonial government to replace insects in the culinary tradition of the Taino with other ingredients believed to have a similar flavor, but all of these campaigns fell on deaf ears and ultimately failed as the Taino refused to accommodate the wishes of the government in their culture. Insect eating is generally seen with contempt by the higher classes of the nation, primarily Jungastians with a heavy connection to their native homeland's traditions. The mixed Encarnaçian population on the other hand has had a mixed reaction to the tradition, with many actively partaking on it and many others outright abhorring it, primarily those in urban areas.