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Celebration Table · Onion Soup

Escabeche (Onion Soup)

Escabeche (Onion Soup) — street food from Cayo, Belize
Photo: Tamorlan / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0

This soup is a close cousin of 'escabeche de Valladolid,' a specific onion-and-vinegar chicken dish named for the Yucatec city of Valladolid, adapted by Cayo's Mestizo cooks using local ingredients.

A tangy chicken soup loaded with sliced onions, oregano, and a splash of vinegar, simmered until the onions turn soft and sweet. Home cooks and small eateries in San Ignacio serve it for birthdays and special occasions.

Why it's made this way: Escabeche reflects Cayo's strong Yucatec Maya-Mestizo heritage, carried across the border from neighboring Mexico and Guatemala into the district's inland communities.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.