Salteña
Bolivia's pastry: slightly sweet dough with a juicy filling of meat, potato and olives. Eaten in the morning, without spilling the juice!
Where: La Paz Valle de la Luna Valle de las Ánimas Villazón Potosí Casa de Moneda Ojo del Inca Sucre
La Paz, the Cordillera and the Yungas
Plato paceño
A typical La Paz plate: corn, broad beans, potatoes and fried cheese.
Api con pastel
A thick hot drink of purple corn and cinnamon, with a cheese pastry dusted with sugar. The market breakfast.
Where: La Paz El Alto Chacaltaya Copacabana Cochabamba
Quinoa soup
A hot soup of quinoa and vegetables, served in refuges and high-altitude comedores. Perfect when it's cold.
Where: Chacaltaya Huayna Potosí Condoriri Charazani Takesi trek Isla del Sol Sajama Curahuara Chipaya Uyuni Salar de Uyuni Cotagaita Potosí Maragua Tajzara Tunari Park Yungapampa
Sajta de pollo
Chicken in a yellow ají amarillo chilli sauce, with chuño and potato. Typical of the Altiplano.
Where: Huayna Potosí Tiwanaku Jesús de Machaca Viscachani Oruro Obrajes
Trout
Trout from Lake Titicaca or the Cordillera rivers, fried or grilled, with rice, fries and salad. Eaten on the beach in Copacabana and in the small restaurants of mountain villages.
Where: Sorata Charazani Copacabana Isla del Sol Isla de la Luna Huatajata Suriki Isla Pariti Apote Corani Incachaca
Yungas coffee
Locally grown coffee, to drink in Coroico's little cafés or to take home.
Where: Death Road Choro trek Takesi trek Yunga Cruz Coroico Chulumani
Tropical fruit
Mangoes, pineapples, papayas, achachairú (a small tangy fruit) and fresh juices everywhere for a few bolivianos.
Where: Death Road Choro trek Yunga Cruz Coroico Chulumani Bermejo Villamontes Santa Cruz Lomas de Arena Espejillos Laguna Volcán Amboró Buena Vista Chochís Roboré Aguas Calientes Rurrenabaque Cobija Riberalta
Fricasé
A spicy pork soup with yellow chilli and mote, said to cure hangovers.
Where: Coroico Chulumani Oruro Totora Vallegrande La Higuera
Lake Titicaca
Ispi and pejerrey
Small lake fish, fried and crispy, eaten whole with a squeeze of lime.
Where: Copacabana Isla de la Luna Huatajata Isla Pariti Uru Uru
Uyuni Salt Flat and the Altiplano
Llama meat
Lean and tasty meat, often grilled or as “charque” (dried). Very common in Uyuni and on the Altiplano.
Where: Sajama Curahuara Chipaya Salar de Coipasa Uyuni Salar de Uyuni Tupiza Tajzara
Charque
Dried, shredded llama or beef, fried and served with corn, egg and cheese.
Where: Oruro Obrajes Machacamarca
Quinoa real
The world's best quinoa grows around the Salar: in soups, patties or as a side.
Picante mixto
A plate of several meats (chicken, tongue, beef) in chilli sauce, with chuño and rice. For chilli lovers.
Where: Tupiza Cotagaita Villazón Camargo Tarata and Cliza Torotoro Incallajta Aiquile Mizque
Chicha
Fermented corn beer, slightly sour, served in gourds (tutumas). Look for chicherías marked with a white flag.
Where: Tupiza Tarabuco Candelaria Zudáñez Maragua Villa Albina Tarata and Cliza Inca Rakay Incallajta Totora Aiquile Mizque
Sucre and Potosí
Kalapurka
Potosí's spicy corn soup, served bubbling thanks to a volcanic stone heated in the fire.
Where: Potosí Casa de Moneda Ojo del Inca
Sucre chocolate
Sucre is the capital of Bolivian chocolate (Para Ti, Taboada): bars made with Amazonian cacao to take home.
Where: Sucre
Puchero
An Andean meat-and-vegetable stew, served during carnival in Tarabuco and Sucre.
Where: Tarabuco Candelaria
Tarija, wine country and the Chaco
Saice
A spicy stew of minced beef and peas, served with rice and potatoes. Tarija's signature dish.
Where: Tarija Tarija wineries San Lorenzo Coimata Padcaya Tariquía
Cangrejitos
Tiny fried river crabs, eaten whole with mote (corn) and lime. A Tarija speciality, best tried by the San Jacinto lake.
Where: Tarija Coimata San Jacinto
Tarija wine
High-altitude wines (up to 2,000 m): tannat, malbec, muscat. Tastings at the valley's bodegas.
Where: Tarija Tarija wineries San Lorenzo Padcaya Camargo Samaipata
Singani
A muscat grape brandy and a national pride. Drunk as a “chuflay” (with ginger ale).
Where: Tarija Tarija wineries Camargo
River fish
Surubí, pacú or dorado, grilled over a wood fire or fried, with rice, cassava and plantain. Delicious by the water, in the Llanos and the Amazon.
Where: San Jacinto Bermejo Tariquía Villamontes Yacuiba Noel Kempff Aguas Calientes Rurrenabaque Madidi Pampas Barba Azul Trinidad Laguna Suárez San Ignacio de Moxos Cobija Porvenir Puerto Rico Riberalta Guayaramerín
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Beni beef
The Beni is cattle country: big grills (churrasco) and dried meat.
Where: Villamontes Yacuiba Barba Azul Beni reserve Trinidad San Ignacio de Moxos
Majadito
Rice cooked with charque or chicken, served with a fried egg and fried plantain. The dish of Santa Cruz and the Beni.
Where: Camiri Santa Cruz Espejillos Laguna Volcán Samaipata Amboró Buena Vista Vallegrande La Higuera San Ignacio San Rafael San José Roboré Aguas Calientes Trinidad
Locro de gallina
A thick rice soup with free-range chicken, comforting and typical of the east.
Where: Camiri San Javier Concepción San Ignacio San Miguel Santa Ana San Rafael San José Chochís Roboré Santiago de Chiquitos
Cochabamba and its valleys
Silpancho
A thin breaded beef cutlet on rice and potatoes, topped with a fried egg and a tomato and onion salad. THE Cochabamba dish.
Where: Cochabamba Laguna Alalay Tunari Park Yungapampa Inca Rakay Torotoro
Pique macho
A big sharing plate: chopped beef and sausages, fries, onions, tomatoes, locoto chillies and boiled eggs. Hearty and a little spicy.
Where: Cochabamba
Chicharrón
Pork cooked slowly in its own fat until golden, served with mote (big corn kernels) and chuño. A Sunday dish.
Where: Cochabamba Villa Albina Apote Corani Tarata and Cliza Inca Rakay Aiquile Mizque
Santa Cruz, Samaipata and Amboró
Sonso de yuca
Cassava and cheese dough grilled on a skewer. A speciality of the east, eaten hot.
Cuñapé and pan de arroz
Little cheese breads made with cassava or rice flour, served warm with coffee in the morning.
Where: Santa Cruz Cotoca Vallegrande San Javier Concepción Santa Ana San Rafael San José Roboré Santiago de Chiquitos
World food in Samaipata
Many foreigners have settled in the village: good restaurants, sourdough bread, artisan cheeses and local wines.
Where: Samaipata
Chiquitos Jesuit Missions
Chiquitos cheeses
Fresh cow's milk cheeses made in the mission villages, with homemade bread.
Where: San Javier San Miguel Santa Ana Santiago de Chiquitos
Masaco
Mashed plantain or cassava with charque or cheese. Rich and filling.
Where: Concepción San Ignacio Noel Kempff Chochís Rurrenabaque Madidi Pampas San Ignacio de Moxos Cobija Puerto Rico Riberalta Guayaramerín