Please Don't Be On A Diet

I don't know about you, but food is a critical part of my vacation experience. You could drop me in an island paradise, but if all they're serving is brussel sprouts, I'm paddling elsewhere. My love for good food (and flavorful ethnic food, in particular) is one of the reasons I love Puerto Rico. The Spanish, Native Indian, African and American cultures have all dabbled in the culinary scene here to produce some delicious meals ... and if that's not to your taste, there's plenty of international and fusion restaurants here to keep you happy.

On top of that, however, is a staple of the Puerto Rican diet: fried foods. Lovers of greasy, crispy snacks will think they have died and gone to deep-fried heaven. Puerto Ricans will throw a variety of foods into the fryer, producing tongue-tickling snacks like frituras, cuchifritos, sorullitos, and bacalaítos (all are a variety of fritter). For a finger-licking snacking extravaganza, head out to Piñones, or to the Kiosks along Route 3, on the way to Fajardo.

It's not just the snacks that succumb to the fryer. Fried pork and chicken chunks, fried whole snapper (chillo entero), and, of course, fried plantains, are among the island's most popular foods. At local restaurants like Soleil Beach Club in Piñones, Ajili Mójili in San Juan, and El Resuelve in Vieques, to name just a few, you're likely to find some terrific options.

Don't get me wrong: Puerto Rico is not all about the fried stuff; food here ranges from the most basic rice 'n beans to highly sophisticated eclectic cuisine, and I'll probably expand on both ends of the spectrum in future blogs. But for now, I'd like to pay homage to the 'Rican passion and love of all things crispy, crunchy, and culinary.