I’d read about onces online, a Chilean tea time custom that takes place in the evening, when we Americans are used to having a large dinner meal. The tradition is said to be rooted in “high tea” of England but the origin of the word “onces” isn’s clear. Some say it takes after English “elevenses,” the tradition of tea time at 11 in the morning. Others say it comes from the fact that Chilean salt peter miners would take their tea with fire water, called aguardiente, and would disguise this by referring to the 11-letter word as “onces.”
Before I’d read much about it, I assumed tea time meant the afternoon. So we went to a cafe in Barrio Italia around 3:30 and were told they didnt’ serve onces until 5pm.
A few days later, a little while after sunset we walked back to the same place and tried, yet again, to enjoy onces. Unfortunately we got there a few minutes after the cafe closed at 9pm—sunset is so misleadingly late in the evenings we didn’t realize the time!
Last night we finally found success. Ordering the cafe’s most elaborate onces preparation, we received: a chirimoya juice, a raspberry juice, a tea (red chai), a cappuccino, two croissants, four slices of their homemade whole grain bread (oat bran and wheat germ, whole wheat flour, flaxseed, and sunflower seed), blackberry jam, avocado mash, butter, ham, and a slice of ricotta raspberry cheesecake!
It was like an elaborate breakfast for dinner, and I am a fan.
Look delicious I would eat the bread and jam.
It looks like you are eating well. I am jealous! 🙂
I’d love to partake!! “Onces” has a more romantic ring to it than “supper” and makes a not too heavy end-of-day meal. Have you noticed if spoken English is used much in the larger cities you’ve been to so far?
Certainly in Santiago, especially in the touristy areas/restaurants. I’ve noticed pretty much all the wait staff in restaurants in the ritzy places (like Bocanariz in Lastarria) speaks English. The reception staff at our first apart hotel wrote in English in our email correspondences, but the staff at our current apart hotel speaks mostly Spanish.
That’s my kind of meal too!