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Show usually stuffed with meat or cheese. Tamalcs maybe the typical typ-ical dish of Latin America are also a distinctive Latin American concoction and not the heritage of another continent. Tamales are to be found in different forms; sometimes made of fresh corn and served in a deep dish as a sort of pure and called Tamal en ca-zuela, ca-zuela, other times having the appearance ap-pearance of small corn patties wrapped in leaves. Some like them hot and spicy; others prefer them milder and sweeter. In Mexico Mex-ico and in Venezuela, particularly, tamales are considered a national dish, those of the latter being called Hallacas, a marvelous concoction con-coction whose preparation is quite a ritual. Much more could be said about Mexico's mole de guajolote, Peru's Cebiche and the quite universal uni-versal milk dessert, called sometimes some-times dulce de leche, other times manjar blanc, but always considered consid-ered an exquisite delicacy. ' Latin American Creole cooking, just as its history, might be defined de-fined in a nutshell as: a general Spanish or Portuguese background with a little hot, spicy Indian influence, in-fluence, a dash of French feeling and just a "soupcon" of Italian seasoning thrown in for good emasure. A most delightful and palatable melting pot, indeed! KNOW YOUR VJy NEIGHBOR FAVORITE DISHES OF LATIN AMERICA The gastronomical life of a region re-gion usually follows closely the development of its culture and the pattern of its history. Although Al-though Latin America "cuisine" has been influenced by a number of factors which have given it a personality of its own, it is, taken as a whole, basically related to that of .the "mother country" be it Spain or Portugal. In the realm of cooking, as well as in other things, Latin America, a strangely strange-ly cosmopolitan composite, still clings faithfully to the taste of its ancestors. It is interesting to find thus, that, just as the same song is sung to many variations, different versions ver-sions of a number of basic Spanish Span-ish dishes have been repeated in many countries of Latin America. One of the most universal is rice which is served either with beans, with chicken or by itself in every one of the Latin republics of the Western Hemisphere. It may be fried rice as in Mexico and Guate- mala, for instance, or made into rice cakes Quesadilla de arroz as in Honduras, or 'eaten with duck as in Peru, but it is always rice . . . Beans have been mentioned; men-tioned; they are usually the traditional tradi-tional simpler accompaniment to rice, a dish of arroz con frijoles being within the means of rich and poor throughout the continent. conti-nent. Also inherited from Spain are the different forms of stew either made with meat or fowl such as Argentina's Puchero, Venezuela's Ven-ezuela's Sopa de Came, Chile's Cazuela de Ave or Cuba's Ajiaco principally flavored with ripe plantains; or the fish chowders, Peru's national Chupe and Bra- zil's Vatapa with shrimps and coconut co-conut milk. Another dish which is shared in different forms by most of the Latin American countries is empanadas, turnovers either baked or fried in deep fat, whose origin may be traced back to Moorish influence in Spain. The filling of these turnovers is generally gen-erally made of meat, olives, raisins, rais-ins, onions and peppers stuffed together, but there is quite a variety vari-ety of stuffings and the size of the empanadas differs, also. Keeping up the tradition of Spanish fried food again are the Bunueles, a sort of cruller, which has been said to be one of the most popular desserts through Latin America, sharing that honor with Spanish-type Spanish-type almond paste and egg desserts des-serts such as the famous huevos chimbos of Panama and Uruguay, and the Sopa Dourada of Brazil. But the influence of the mother moth-er country has not been the only one in Latin America. The peoples peo-ples of Italian origin in Southeastern Southeast-ern South America, the French descended population of Haiti and French cooks in many wealthy Latin American homes, as well as the child-loving Indians of Mexico Mexi-co and Peru whose native foodstuffs food-stuffs have become our most abundant staples, all of these have contributed to the menu of Latin America. One of the most typical examples is that of corn, a contribution con-tribution to the Western Hemis-pher Hemis-pher of the Old World, where it is still relatively little known as a table delicacy. The word tortilla, for instance, which is used in Spain and in most of the Spanish-speaking Spanish-speaking countries of this continent conti-nent as meaning omelet, designates desig-nates in Mexico and Central America Amer-ica a flat corn cake which is the almost universal food. This Tortilla Tor-tilla is eaten almost as bread and |