You’re cooking a traditional Uruguayan meal, what would such a meal entail?
The Uruguayan national meal is the asado, which is a type of barbecued meat. My favourite dish is the dulce de leche [literally translate, dulce de leche means ‘sweet from milk’]. You make it by slowly heating sweetened milk, and the product ends up tasting a little bit like honey. We eat it as an accompaniment to bread, cookies and various other things.
Describe a typical Uruguayan party:
There is always lots of dancing, and it normally continues until around 6 o’clock the next morning. Parties are very common, I go to birthday parties all the time, and the girls often wear dresses. The most important party is the quinceñera, which celebrates a girl´s fifteenth birthday. For my quinceñera, I went to a special venue which supplied lots of food for the event, and I gave out party favours to all those who came to the party. I wore a white dress, and invited loads of people, including family and friends. It was so much fun! Before my quinceñera, I took a day off school in order to rest before the party, which perhaps shows just how important the quienceñera is to us here in Uruguay. In fact, it seems really strange to us that someone would have a birthday party at a restaurant, or going to see a film. Whereas in England, people meet up in town to socialise, we always meet at parties!
What makes you proudest about your country?
Every year, we hold a large festival to raise money for children with disabilities. At the festival, we see videos of people who have benefited from the charity the year previously, and the stories are always very touching. The festivals raise millions of pesos, the Uruguayan currency, and I think it’s great to see our country coming together to help such a great cause. The charity sets up schools and facilities, and helps to sponsor families too.
If you had to show someone around Uruguay, where would you take them?
Our country has a lot of beautiful beaches and it’s fun to go to them during the summer. Sometimes, my family rents a beach house and we go there with some friends for a little holiday. I have a great time on these holidays, my friends and I take games to play because there’s no internet connection and we go to the beach every day to swim and build sand castles, or just chat on the beach and have a picnic. From time to time, bands congregate on the beach and fill the air with their music. There is a large variety of music in Uruguay, but you might see some musicians playing tango, one of the more distinctive Uruguayan styles of music. When the bands start playing, we all get up to dance and try and sing along if we know the words. Uruguay really has so much to offer, I’m still finding things to do despite sixteen years of living here, and I hope this interview has given you a taster of why I love the country so much!
Author: Helena Kresin
