What is Latin food other than Mexican food?

Question

I know all about Mexican food, but know nothing about Salvadorian, Bolivian, or other Central American food, is it close? Or is it completely different?

Answer 1

All somewhat different, as is the Islands; Haitian, Cuban, Porto Rican, Carribean, etc.  

Answer 2

Latin I always think of as Italian, Spanish and even French!

Answer 3

Yes, it is different mostly.

They use a lot of platanos machos (plantains) in their cooking.  

They use more black beans.

We are talking about basically poor countries, and we know that when people are poor, they eat what is all around them.  If they are shepherds, they eat goat or sheep and almost nothing else.

You can bet that beans are as popular in all of latin america as they are in Mexico and the USA.  When you have no money, beans are full of nutrients, will fill you up, and cost 50cents per pound.  A pound of beans will make about 5 pounds cooked beans.

If the country is coastal, they will eat a lot of fish and shellfish.

Answer 4

It's quite different. I'd compare Central American food more to Caribbean food than Mexican. Fresher flavors, more fruit, less cheese and sauces, whole beans not re-fried, meats are stewed or grilled.

Here's a a few Central American recipes http://www.epicurious.com/recipesmenus/g...

http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.asp...