Paraguayan Cuisine

Paraguayan cuisine is hearty, rustic country food rooted in the indigenous Guaraní staples of maize and cassava, enriched with cheese, meat and dairy. Its most famous dish is the deliciously named sopa paraguaya, which is not a soup at all but a moist, savoury cornbread rich with cheese and onion. Alongside come chipa, the chewy cheese-and-cassava bread sold everywhere, hearty stews, grilled asado meats, and cassava served in place of bread, all accompanied by the all-important national drink, yerba mate, taken hot as mate or, in the heat, ice-cold as tereré.

What you actually see

• Sopa paraguaya - the savoury cheese cornbread, misleadingly named.
• Chipa - the chewy cheese-and-cassava bread eaten everywhere.
• The grilled asado - the barbecued meats and cassava.
• Tereré and mate - the iced and hot yerba mate rituals.

When to go

Year-round; markets and simple eateries serve the corn breads, chipa and grilled meats, while tereré, sipped from a shared guampa cup through a metal straw, is a constant social ritual, especially in the summer heat. Chipa is a beloved snack, sold by roaming vendors.

Honest expectations

Paraguayan food is simple, filling and heavy on corn, cheese and cassava rather than spice or variety, so its appeal is honest, rustic comfort food rather than culinary refinement; the misleadingly named sopa paraguaya delights first-timers. Street chipa and market meals are cheap and satisfying. The real cultural experience, though, is the shared, ice-cold tereré, the social heartbeat of Paraguayan daily life.

Nearby

Asunción and every town have their markets, eateries and chipa vendors.