What do gringos eat?

The current host family I am living with consists of my host parents who are in their 60s and are retired teachers, their adult niece and her two little girls who are 4 and 7.  We are also have frequent visits from my host parents kids and grandchildren.  One weekend we had 9 visiting relatives on top of the 7 of us that live at the house.  Out of this group 6 were kids under the age of 10.  Needless to say, that turned out to be a long weekend for me!


The other weekend, Victor Jose (my favorite of the grandkids) was in town visiting.  I had spent the afternoon playing cards with him and the two little girls, Maria Fernanda and Marissa.  For some reason, all afternoon long Maria Fernanda was asking me questions about how to say certain words in English and a lot of questions about why gringos do this or why gringos like that.  At one point she asked me what gringos eat.  This was a hard question to answer as I feel Americans eat a lot of different foods (I didn't really want to say pizza and cheese burgers, although, there is some truth to that).  Later that evening, after dinner, Victor Jose was hungry and wanted a snack.  He went to the small store that my host parents run out of the front of our house and grabbed a bag of white bread.  He came back in the house and got some homemade jalea de mora (blackberry jelly) and put some on a slice of bread.  It suddenly dawned on me that I had a jar of peanut butter stashed in my room.  I would be lying if I say I didn't really want to share my peanut butter (it was JIFF by the way, the good stuff, not to mention I cost me a day wages) with the kids, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to share some American Culture with my host family. 


I asked the kids if they would like to try an "American food" which I assured them almost every child in the States eats on a regular basis.  They were ecstatic at the idea of trying something American children like to eat.  I went to my room and got my peanut butter.  I made a few PB&Js and cut them into triangles (the best way to eat a PB&J sandwich).  I am not sure why, but at that point the four year old went a little nuts.  She started running around the house eating her PB&J and yelling "Soy una gringa, soy una gringa" (this pretty much translates into "I am a white girl").  After telling anyone in the house who would listen, plus a few customers that came into the store, she was convinced that she was now a little gringa after eating peanut butter.  I then explained to them that you could also eat peanut butter on crackers, bananas or even plain.  Then, my crazy little Marissa took her dirty four-year-old fingers and stuck them right into my precious jar of peanut butter.  I cringed, but the damage was already done.  Of course then, Victor Jose and Maria Fernanda also wanted to stick their fingers in the peanut butter jar and eat some plain.  At the end of the night I had a lot less peanut butter but it was worth it to see how excited it made the kids to try some peanut butter!  The bad news is now, everyday, the kids keep asking me for me peanut butter!

 

Marissa, after eating her PB&J sandwich.  She has recently been given the nickname "hurricane Marissa" from my host dad as she is a bit of a wild child!