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- The More Common Sight of Hair in Your Food in Latin America
Not too long ago, I went to some expat event where other foreigners like me go to a bar to hang out, have food, discuss life in Mexico, maybe fuck a gringa fuck in the ass in the bathroom and whatever else that floats your boat!
I’ve been trying to go to these events more even though I rarely meet other gringos in most of my time in Mexico and I don’t live where the gringos do.
But it is a nice thing to do to meet other people anyhow.
Given all the free time I have in Mexico, I can get bored easily and just drink a lot so trying to “fill up my time” has been a focus of mine.
At any rate, we sat down at this random bar I’ve never heard of in Roma Norte for beer and food.
A small group of people of around 11 I think.
All around was a good time.
The food was good too.
But not everyone thought so.
There was an older woman in the group named Sherry from the US.
Single lady in her 60s who retired and wanted to travel after having gone through a divorce back home.
At some point early on after the food arrived, she had a DISGUSTING moment.
DISGUSTING!
She actually did seem kinda pissed.
Not literally screaming and throwing shit at the employees.
But seemingly very disgusted and irritated.
And, when the waitress returned, she gave that usual “speak very slowly so they understand your English” behavior.
Almost like she was speaking to the waitress like she was a retard.
While the waitress, from what I could tell, seemingly spoke English well enough to not need someone speaking to her like a retard.
All around a bit condescending.
Full Boomer Moment.
And what was the issue all about?
Well, she found a HAIR on top of her quesadilla.
“RIGHT THERE. RIGHT THERE. YOU SEE, MEXICANITO?!?!?! THERE IS A HAIR IN MY FOOD! TAKE IT BACK!!!”
The waitress did take it back.
In all honesty, it wouldn’t surprise me if they sat the quesadilla down, perhaps warmed it in a microwave or something to warm it up and bring it back to her without the hair on top of it.
And that was that.
Truth be told, I felt like she overacted.
But maybe I’m the one with low standards here?
Or just accustomed to things not being of as high quality service like we are used to back home.
The Hair in Your Food in Latin America
Of course, hair in the food happens in the US also.
And every Latin American country is different.
I can only speak from my own experience anyhow.
Personally, finding a small tiny bit of hair in my food doesn’t gross me out.
I won’t eat it obviously.
Just take it off and keep eating.
Make sure no other hairs are on the food.
Good to go!
I get people make mistakes anyhow.
And, for whatever reason, one small little hair doesn’t ruin the whole meal for me.
On top of that, I can only remember like one moment in my whole life where I found a hair on my food back home in the US.
Perhaps, if I was more disgusted by it, I would remember it more.
Perhaps some moments I have forgotten?
Still, while it does happen in the US obviously, it’s just not an issue that I have noticed to be too common up north in my experience only.
It does happen though.
But, having said that, I can say, without any doubt, that “hair on the food” is MUCH more common in my experience living in Latin America.
Not just Mexico though.
In other Latin countries like Colombia or Bolivia where I more frequently found hair on my food.
In fact, just this week alone, I can recall THREE times that I found a hair on my food.
Today was one of them.
Need proof?
HERE IT IS!
A small piece of hair found with the chicken tostadas I had today for lunch.
Was it earth shattering?
Ruin the meal for me?
Did I grab my gun, return to the tostada lady, point the gun in her face and yell “PUTA MADRE!!!!! PUTA MADRE!!!! TE VOIY A MATAR PUTA MADRE!!!!”
No.
Didn’t do any of that.
Simply checked the food for any other hairs.
Found none.
Enjoyed my meal.
Avoided the one little hair.
It didn’t bother me.
But it did get my attention as this is the third time I found a hair on my food this week and it got me thinking about Sherry.
Truth be told, if Sherry didn’t make a big deal about the hair that night, I wouldn’t be writing this article.
Why not?
Because I’m used to it.
There are certain things that I think I’ve gotten so accustomed to down here that they seem normal to me now.
Like how you see all of the extra wires hanging around in Mexico City as I wrote about here.
Someone from the US might see that and think you are in a shithole area similar to some bad neighborhood of Detroit.
And while that article does look at the wire issue in a poorer neighborhood, you see all the extra wires in better neighborhoods too.
In short, you get used to it.
Not something to think about.
Same with the hair.
Granted, maybe some gringos who live down here long enough could NEVER get used to it.
I get that.
Some things we just don’t change about us.
Like the gringo who still gets annoyed at a Mexican showing up late to something.
There are things you got to get used to down here but some of us have certain things that we find harder to adjust to.
Either way, I imagine that Sherry’s issue that she’ll find it hard to adjust to will be the hair in the food.
It’s not like you get hair in every meal obviously.
And it’s usually just one small piece of hair.
Plus, if we’re being honest, street food spots obviously will have lower standards than maybe a nicer restaurant.
Just keep that in mind if you wish to avoid the hair in the food.
At any rate, that’s all I got to say.
Drop any comments below.
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Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt