CULTURAL SHOCK OF FLAVORS

This article was originally published earlier this month in the Jaguar Roar newsletter of the Regional Language Center, University of Belize.

When I arrived in Belize, the heat was terrible. The city seemed huge and small at the same time. I tried to compare it with my hometown Oaxaca, Mexico, but there was almost no comparison. Though my English was limited, I carried the fierce confidence that I could make myself understood. I went into Kalger’s Store, a place I would visit many times. The aisles had many products of all kinds. I saw a freezer with the name Sarita on it.

I walked through the aisles, and when I got to the snack section, my eyes lit up. I had so many questions: “Why are the bags of chips stacked on top of each other?” “Why do they have such strange names?” “Wow, I have never seen this before,” I thought. The cookies were also stacked one on top of the other. The first time in that aisle, I stayed there for about 20 minutes, looking carefully at all the snacks – their colors, their names, and where they came from, contemplating which to try first.

I had just finished the salty snack section when the sweet section appeared. There were cookies from Italy, from Trinidad and Tobago, and a few brands from Mexico. And then I found my weakness: the gummy candies. There were watermelon gummies, gummy bears, gummy worms, tropical fruit gummies, citrus slice gummies…every Caribbean flavor you could imagine.

When I decided what to take, I tried “Zambos,” which are not potato chips but chips made from ripe plantains. And also the watermelon gummies. I tried to taste new things little by little, moving away from the snack aisle.

Every visit to the magic land, I am like a kid in a toy store: every discovery is better than the previous – cans of tiny sausages, packets of powdered milk, condensed milk… It started in January, and up until now, way into August, the store remains a mission to try flavors that are not available in my country. It is also an opportunity to pick out snacks to take back with me so my friends and family can get a taste of Belize.

All photos were taken by the author.

Mildred Cruz is an English as a Second Language (ESL) student at the Regional Language Center, University of Belize. She lives in Oaxaca, México and enjoys riding her bike and writing.