Gastronomy

Chilean cuisine is a long and narrow table laid with diverse dishes. It is the country’s geography and history as manifested in the diversity of dishes and drinks. The result of a cultural mix, with ingredients from various culinary traditions, Chilean cuisine is a product of the cultural mix between the powerful indigenous tradition and its encounter with the Spaniards.

Later French cooking emerged, which first had an influence over the elite but then spread to all of society. Currently Chile is a country that is open to international cuisine and there are restaurants with specialties from different countries and the clubs of immigrant communities. At the same time there is a revival of native products from the land and in particular from the sea.

In this way, the new Chilean cuisine creates, reinvents, and experiments for the tastes of all diners. Globalization and the arrival of many foreigners in the country have increased the range of gastronomy and flavors available in Chile. It is common to find Thai, German, and Indian restaurants in Santiago. However, for Chileans, even those who live abroad, the empanada will always evoke the independence holidays and other traditional celebrations.

Of course, it is also an excellent opportunity to enjoy these dishes with a glass of the famous Chilean wine or pisco.

Chilean wine

The land and the climate join hands to produce wines that have conquered expert tasters and citizens of the world. Chilean wine is for export, a cause for celebration, and the reason for attractive tourist routes. Briefly put, there are good and multiple reasons to toast to Chilean wine.

In 2008 the specialized US magazine Wine Spectator chose the wine Clos Apalta 2005 from the vineyard Casa Lapostolle as the best wine in the world. The wine industry has placed Chile as the world’s eleventh producer and fifth exporter. This international presence responds to an old winemaking tradition that is backed by a quality that has been recognized among the best of the world.

Each bottle of Chilean wine is filled with culture that speaks of our geography, climate, enterprising spirit, and people whose work and lives revolve around the products that the grape offers.

For this reason, traditional celebrations include wine harvest celebrations, while the wine routes in diverse parts of the Central Valley have now become traditional. In these Routes, tourists can see the production processes up close and to taste the variety of grapes, while at the same time touring the area in the Wine Train that runs from San Fernando to Santa Cruz. It is precisely in the Colchagua Valley that the country’s best vineyards can be found. Excellent wines are also produced in Atacama, Coquimbo, the Central Valley, and in the south.

French connection

Words like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon characterize the Chilean wine industry and reveal the clear influence of French culture. Claude Gay stands out among the French experts who arrived in the 19th century, a botanist and naturalist who authored Gay’s Atlas and studied the country’s flora, fauna, geography and geology. The French contributed to the modernization of wine production and brought over the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cot or Malbec,

Riesling, and other grape varieties already mentioned, promoted the cultivation of French grape varieties and the refinement of blending and aging techniques. This is a French connection whose results are clear to see and on the palates of experts and amateurs. In addition to the improvements in the treatment of vineyards, technical elements were incorporated to allow local Champaign production. However, the Spanish brought the first grapes to Chile around 1550, long before the French made their contribution.

They were planted in the central valley near Santiago, an area with a Mediterranean climate with clearly defined seasons. With the passage of time the productive mix and experimentation gave rise to Chilean varieties, like the Carménère grape for example, which have received unique recognition for their quality. Investment in Chilean varieties has led to the introduction of modern technologies, legal regulations, classifications, and certificates of origin, which have facilitated the production of export wines that add to the country prestige.

Learn more about winery in Wines of Chile’s website.

Chicha and pisco

Raising one’s elbow is a local saying and an exercise to toast with a glass of wine, chicha or pisco sour.
In addition to wine, grapes are the origin of other traditional alcoholic beverages in Chile. Perhaps the most popular is chicha, fermented grape juice of Mapuche origin that can also be prepared with fermented apple juice. At the Military Parade during the Fiestas Patrias celebrations it is traditional for the President of the Republic to drink a chicha en cacho, or served using a bull’s horn for a cup and offered by a representative of the huasos, as men from the Chilean countryside are called.

Pisco is also produced from grapes and is a traditional liquor from the northern valleys. The best known piscos come from the Elqui Valley, where there are several distilleries that can be visited, in this area where the poet Gabriela Mistral was from and which has some the cleanest skies in the country. The soil and warm, dry climate with high temperature contrasts, together with the waters of the Elqui River, provide conditions that are favorable to the growth of different types of muscatel variety grapes that are distilled to produce pisco with different strengths.

It is available at 30, 35, 40 and 43 percent alcohol, from common pisco to grand piscos. Some of the muscatel grapes are Alexandria, pink, black, and early white. Pisco can be drunk on its own, mixed with a cola drink for a popular piscola or as an aperitif, with the not-to-be-missed pisco sour, prepared with pisco and lemon juice. Meanwhile, a typical drink at folk gatherings or performances is vino navegado, a mixture of hot wine with oranges.

Wine with fruit is called borgoña or ponche. There is also distilled liquor with 50 percent alcohol that is used to prepare cola de mono (monkey’s tail), in which it is mixed with milk and cinnamon and is drunk during the Christmas and New Year celebrations. This liquor, mixed with milk, is also the basis for liquor de oro (gold liquor), which is called thus because of its color. It is characteristic of the Los Lagos Region in the country’s south.