How the National Sandwich of Uruguay Resembles the Country Itself

cyberhug.me wrote:

the healthy quality of the natural ingredients... you’ll likely be healthier here than "back home." Food also tastes better here.

I finally had some chivitos in Colonia, and they were fine.

But somehow, today on my first day ever in Montevideo, I topped them.  I concocted the best-tasting sandwich I’ve ever made -- all from ingredients that I bought at the DeVoto supermarket on Avenida Bolivia at San Nicolas in Carrasco this afternoon.  These fixin's include ham and cheese, but it was no ordinary ham ’n cheese san.

I chalk up the off-the-charts taste factor largely to two key ingredients -- four quesos cheese .. and rústico multi-cereal bread.

I call this sandwich the cccvito.  I made it open-faced and unheated.

This sliced bread was the best store-bought bread I’ve ever tasted -- like a North American rye bread, only so fresh and delicious you may want it at every meal.  It’s the Artepan brand, available in clear-plastic-covered packages of 400 gram weight.

You know the expression “best thing since sliced bread.”  That could have originated here.

The cheese was Salsa Four Quesos from the folks at La Especialista brand, a creamy mix -- according to the labeling -- of queso dambo, muzarella, fontina, parmesan with some salt and pepper mixed in.

The ham was store-sliced jamón cocido (cooked ham).

I put some lettuce on top of the other inside ingredients.  There was no egg involved.

Then I washed down the cccvito with Pfanner blueberry juice, aka Heidelbeere mirtillo, which apparently comes from an Austrian juice-maker.

I’m not sure if there’s a scientific basis for Cyberhugme’s claim that food tastes better here.  But he could be right about that.

cccmedia, from Montevideo