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Bolivian Snacks and Tea Time FoodsRecetas en Español • Restaurant Review • Grocery Stores • Markets I'm not sure this Bolivian snacks pages is correctly named. Bolivians aren't really "snackers". In this culture it's customary for almost everyone to enjoy a "merienda" which is a mid-morning coffee or tea at about 10 a.m. with something (usually fried or baked goods like salteñas). It's also customary to break at tea time (around 5 pm) for "tecito" when everyone has more tea or coffee and more fried or baked goods. Bolivians are not such sweet tooths as people in other countries. It's more common to break for tea with something salty than sweet. Bolivians also not big dessert eaters. Most people enjoy pastries on special occasions like birthdays, Mothers Day, and other holidays. However, the cafés here are almost always brimming full around tea time and since there are always some who enjoy sweets, pastry shops are very common as well and everyone offers a variety of both sweet and salty goodies. So because we have the two traditional times set aside to eat between meals already (in the mid-morning and in the mid-afternoon), it isn't really common for Bolivians to snack a lot other than that. 
In addition, you don't see people walking around on the street carrying and eating food like you do in some countries. It's just not considered polite. However, you do see people enjoying ice cream and other traditional Bolivian snacks (like toasted peas, sugared peanuts or espresso coffee) in parks and plazas, on street corners where candy and snack vendors have set up, and in almost every office in the country. Here the merienda and tecito are like THE LAW and companies are practically obligated (OK, let's just say expected) to serve both the merienda and tecito at company cost. This keeps employees happy and happy employees perform better...aaaaah I'm not so sure about that... anyway let's not diverge from the subject.You also almost NEVER see people eating while they drive (although some passengers might) or while riding on a city bus. It's just not cool. There's a time and a place for everything food-related in Bolivia and to diverge is well, just uncouth. Here in Eastern Bolivia where I live (Santa Cruz is the country's modelling center) people watch their figures carefully. And because it's tropical and there is a plethora of great tropical products, snacking on fruit, nuts or simply fruit juice is very common. So having said this, I've included in this Bolivian snacks section some of the foods we actually enjoy at merienda and tecito. Try These Bolivian SnacksChipilo de Yuca (Yucca Chips) Where to Find Tons of South American IngredientsLaTienda.com is a great online store where you can find MANY of the ingredients you'll need for Bolivian recipes. They specialize in food from Spain and have warehouses in the US and in Europe. But now they're also importing South American foods - so check out their website and click on NEW WORLD FLAVORS to see all the cool new South American stuff they have online. If they add something new, they let us know about it! Return from Bolivian Snacks to Home Page
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