Santa Cruz de La Sierra - Culture and Food

Culture and Food

Museums, Cultural Centers and Galleries

Santa Cruz offers an interesting circuit of cultural and art spaces, from natural history, to religious art up to the newest contemporary art. There is a young art market which is growing fast.

• Casa de la Cultura Raul Otero Reiche
• Noel Kempff Mercado Natural History Museum
• Teniente General German Busch Becerra National History Museum
• National and Regional Museum and Archive
• Guarani museum
• Cathedral Museum of Sacred Art
• Museum of Art and Archaeology
• Museum of Independence
• Museum of Contemporary Art
• Manzana Uno (art center)
• Cultural Center Santa Cruz
• Cultural Center Simon I. Patiño
• Training Centre of the Spanish Cooperation
• Feliciana Rodriguez Cultural Center
• Franco German Cultural Center
• Art Gallery Axioma
• Gallery Kiosko
• Gallery Bhuo Blanco
• Guembe Biocenter

The city of Santa Cruz has benefited from a fast paced growing economy for the last 15 years. This has allowed for a multicultural and ethnically diverse city to develop. Despite its fast growth, the city preserves much of its traditions and culture. This is particularly reflected in its typical foods.

The Spaniards introduced cows, poultry, rice, citrus fruits (oranges, tangerines and lemons), from southern Asia they brought sugar cane and from Africa plantains, bananas and coffee (which is cultivated in the yungas near Buena Vista. Moreover, local dishes include native vegetables such as corn, peanuts, yuca and squash, and also local fish such as surubi and pacu.

There is evidence of the influence of Jewish kosher cuisine in many traditional Santa Cruz dishes, where it is noticeable, the general absence of pork meat, and the combination of rice, yuca, corn and peanuts with either meat or milk products, but never both (at least while being cooked).

Native spices such as urucum, and native fruits (unique to the region) such as achachairu, guapuru and guabira, add to the uniqueness of Santa Cruz rich traditional cuisine.The agricultural richness of the region allows Santa Cruz to enjoy a vast variety of flavours and ingredients. The following is a list which describes the most typical foods:

Typical Foods

• Majao or Majadito (a risotto style plate which includes charque, duck or chicken meat.)
• Locro (a very dense, rice and hen based soup containing potatoes and spiced with onion, garlic and oregano. It's common to use chicken instead of hen and it is eaten with a piece of boiled yuca) Not to be confused with an Argentinean typical food
• Masaco (smashed plantain with charque(sun dried meat)Also made with yuca and charque)
• Patasca
• Churrasco or Parrillada

Typical Drinks

• Somó (white corn based drink, served cold as a refreshment)
• Chicha (non-alcoholic drink made by mixing white corn and cinnamon, very sweet).

Typical Pastries

• Cuñapé (yuca and cheese baked as small bread buns)
• Sonso (yuca and cheese, boiled and mixed in a type of mashed potato consistency, oven baked or grilled)
• Empanada
  • Empanada de arroz
  • Empanada de queso
  • Empanada de jigote
  • Empanada de carne
  • Saltena Empanada specialty from the region
• Bizcocho de trigo
• Masaco de plátano (banana mixed with charqui or meat)
  • Masaco de yuca (yuca mixed with charqui or meat)
  • Masaco de queso (cheese mixed with banana, or meat)
• Queque