Paraguayan
Tembi'u paraguái
Guaraní corn and cassava meet mission-era cheese and eggs in a family of savoury breads found nowhere else.
Guaraní agriculture supplied corn, cassava, peanuts and the yerba mate that still structures the day. Early intermarriage with Spanish settlers and the Jesuit reductions of the 1600s and 1700s brought cattle and dairy to Guaraní farms, and the cheese-and-starch breads followed. The devastation of the 1860s war fixed a frugal kitchen where boiled mandioca replaces bread and nothing is wasted. Asado culture came in from Argentina; the breads stayed stubbornly Paraguayan and spread into Misiones and Corrientes.
Corn and cassava are the carbohydrates; wheat is secondary. Queso Paraguay, salty and fresh, goes into breads, soups and dumplings. Savoury baking is more important than sweet. Beef is grilled or stewed, rarely fried. Food is mild, with onion rather than chilli as the main aromatic. Cold tereré accompanies everything, and eating is communal and slow.
Countries and regions
Asunción and the central region · Misiones and the south · Chaco
