The Boquete Gourmet has developed this website and is constantly planning new events for the future. The big question is what do my readers want; classes on Chinese cooking, trips to farms, or leandctures about coffee? Anything is possible to arrange, well almost anything, given the resources and location high up here in the mountains of Chiriqui Province, Panama.

The purpose of this post is to ask you what you would like to experience that would add to your knowledge about the Boquete area, to your abilities to enjoy fine foods, or to improve your skills in preparing healthy and nutritious gourmet dishes.

We are lucky to be living in the “market basket of Panama”, where almost every type of food is available, and it’s fresh, abundant and very reasonable.

Boquete also seems to attract excellent cooks and professional chefs, many of whom are willing to share their expertise with locals and visitors alike. We have excellent party planners, bakers, and experts on growing and preparing local products, just to name a few.

Please let me know what type of cuisine you would like to explore, whether it’s anything pictured here, a particular ethnic style, candy making, or something you’ve always wanted to learn to prepare. Now is our chance to sharpen our culinary skills, so please let me know what’s on your mind, and I’ll try to make it happen for you.

Host Chef, Juan Linares will present the last class in a series of “Panamanian Beef: From Tough to Tender” on Thursday, June 29, beginning at 11:00am. Juan and expert butchers from our local Romero’s Supermarket will share their knowledge about various cuts of beef. Participants will learn how to buy the cuts of beef they want, and how to prepare them to make tender and delicious entrees.

If you’d like to reserve a seat for this very informative and entertaining event, please click the June 29 date on the calendar at the right and get your tickets now.

Hoping to hear from you soon at boquetegourmet@gmail.com,
Cora

Each year, vendors come from all over Central and South America to sell their wares and locals showcase their home-grown flowers and coffee.

This year was quite different in that the town father’s decided to eliminate street vendors, reduce the volume of the bands that entertain throughout the fair and spruce up the grounds by developing gardens for each and every square inch of fairground.

But my favorite part of the fair is the food available along the midways.

All the dishes are hot, fragrant, beautiful to look at and reasonably priced. Because David and I have visited this annual fair for the last 8 years, we always end up on a bench drinking a local beer and munching on yucca, the local delicacy that reminds me of dry French fried potatoes, but with more flavor.

Whole chickens are cut and grilled to order. The photo just to the right shows chicken pieces and yucca sizzling on the grill. The cook sprinkled some garlic oil on the grill while they were warming up – a good tip.

Folks were ordering fresh smoothies made in an instant, and candied apples were being dipped on the spot.
A double-dip ice cream cone or a cup of Boquete’s finest coffee, I think the best coffee in the world, is only 50 cents.

Now you know what Panamanians are eating at this year’s Flower and Coffee Fair, and it’s all fresh and delicious.

But as many of you know, there are only two of these wonderful foods that I could eat this year, much to my disappointment Because of my new braces, I could only have a smoothie and a double-dip of ice cream in a cone, David ate my cone.

However, along with a couple bottles of Atlas beer, that made for an excellent visit to Boquete’s biggest event of the year. Actually, it was just exactly right for me, I was tired of eating mashed potatoes.

You won’t want to miss it!
Cora