A Food and Drink Guide to Chile: What to Eat and Drink

Why Chilean food surprises visitors

Chile stretches over 4,000 km, so its food shifts from the Atacama desert to Patagonia. Expect lots of seafood, hearty corn and meat dishes, fresh bread, and wine that punches above its price.

Signature dishes to try

• Empanada de pino — baked pastry filled with minced beef, onion, a slice of hard-boiled egg, an olive and a raisin. The national snack, best around Independence Day (18 September).
• Pastel de choclo — a sweet-corn casserole over beef, chicken and egg, baked until golden.
• Cazuela — a brothy stew with a piece of meat, pumpkin, potato and corn on the cob.
• Curanto — a Chiloe feast of shellfish, meat and potato breads, traditionally cooked in a pit with hot stones.
• Porotos granados — summer cranberry beans with squash and corn.

Street food and quick bites

• Completo — a loaded hot dog with tomato, mashed avocado and a mountain of mayonnaise (the italiano mirrors the flag's colors).
• Sopaipillas — fried pumpkin dough, eaten plain, with pebre, or in syrup (sopaipillas pasadas) on rainy days.
• Mote con huesillo — a sweet summer drink-snack of dried peaches and husked wheat.
• Chorrillana — a shared mountain of fries topped with beef, onions and fried eggs.

Seafood on the coast

The cold Humboldt current makes Chile a seafood paradise. Try ceviche of reineta or corvina, machas a la parmesana (razor clams with cheese), caldillo de congrio (conger eel soup, praised by poet Pablo Neruda), and erizos (sea urchin) for the adventurous. Mercado Central in Santiago and Caleta Portales in Valparaiso are great spots.

What to drink

• Wine — Chile excels at carmenere, cabernet sauvignon and crisp Casablanca sauvignon blanc. Valle de Colchagua and Maipo are easy day trips from Santiago.
• Pisco — the grape brandy in a pisco sour (with lime and egg white) or a piscola (with cola).
• Terremoto — pipeno wine, pineapple ice cream and grenadine; one really is enough.
• Mote con huesillo and fresh fruit juices for non-drinkers.

Practical dining tips

• Lunch (almuerzo) is the main meal; many places offer a cheap menu del dia around 5,000-8,000 CLP.
• Dinner runs late, often after 9 pm. Once is an evening tea with bread around 6-8 pm.
• A 10% tip (propina) is customary and usually suggested on the bill; you can adjust it.
• Tap water is generally safe in cities but very mineral-heavy in the north, so many prefer bottled.
• Try pebre, the fresh tomato-coriander-chili salsa on most tables, and ask for aji if you like heat.

Stay connected in Chile

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