¡Buen Provecho!...

¡Buen provecho!... or “Bon appétit!”, as the French would say. Here, everyone says, «¡Buen provecho!» I’m constantly asked, “Miss, how do you say ‘¡Buen provecho!’ in English?” I tell them that loosely, it means, “Enjoy your meal.” Sometimes I tell them that it’s the same as “Bon appétit!” in French. But then I hit them with the kicker: We don’t say it in the States. WHAT??? Nope. We don’t use it.

Let me explain… Here in Honduras, if you walk into a restaurant and others are eating, you say, “¡Buen provecho!” as you walk by their table. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know them; you say it. If you walk into an office and someone is eating a meal at their desk, you say, “¡Buen provecho!” Again, familiarity means nothing; you say it. Wherever you are, if someone is eating, you say, “¡Buen provecho!” It’s the polite thing to do. Always.

Enter the cafeteria at school and it’s a veritable “¡Buen provecho!”-fest as students and teachers alike are greeting each other as they pass tables. Now, many of them have added, “Enjoy your meal” or “Enjoy your food” into the mix.

When I explain that we don’t use it in the US, the inevitable question is, “Well, then what do you say?” I’m met with blank stares when I tell people that if we enter a restaurant, we don’t say anything to those we pass. I explain that the only ones who say “Enjoy your meal” are the waiters. Really? Hondurans find that incredulous.

Personally, I’ve come to appreciate the manners that saying “¡Buen provecho!” shows. It feels cultured. Refined. Of course, when people say it to me it’s usually when I have a mouthful of food. “Graviath” (Gracias) is often my muffled reply.

And since we’re speaking of food, let me leave you with a couple of pictures I took last week after the parade for the kindergarten. Baleadas are one of my favorite foods here and they are the quintessential street food. Baleadas are a simple bean burrito: flour tortilla, refried beans, mantequilla (basically, sour cream) and grated cheese. You can add more ingredients, like scrambled eggs, sausage, chicken, or whatever, but the basic baleada, a baleada sencilla, is just fine by me.


 A smiling street vendor making the homemade tortillas for our baleadas.

Erica, Haniel, and Heydi, patiently waiting for baleadas.