Perico

Ingredients:

·       1 medium onion, chopped fine

·       2 tablespoons butter

·       1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·       1 medium tomato, chopped fine

·       1 green pepper, chopped fine (optional)

·       4-6 eggs

·       3 tablespoons cream

·       Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1.     Whisk eggs together with cream. Set aside.

2.     Melt butter with oil in a large nonstick skillet. 

3.     Sautéed chopped onions over medium heat until translucent. 

4.     Add tomatoes and peppers and cook over medium heat until soft, 8-10 minutes. 

5.     Pour eggs into skillet and cook gently, stirring them lightly and flipping them as they cook. 

6.     Cook to desired doneness, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm with arepas.

Perico is a Venezuelan dish consisting of eggs, oil, tomatoes, onions, and green peppers.  A single serving would have about 18.5 grams of fat and 222 calories.  It has no sugar (except for a little natural sugar from the vegetables).

            Our dish is nearly 100% whole food.  The only processed ingredient is vegetable oil, of which only a tablespoon is used.  It was also, dollar for calorie, the cheapest ingredient.  A 48-oz bottle cost $2.99.  Eggs were $2.29 a dozen, also relatively cheap.  The pepper was $1.99, the tomato and onion $3.99 each.  One serving of perico costs approximately $3.97, more than a serving of fast food.

            The only ingredients whose origins we were able to find were the eggs and oil.  The eggs came from a small organic farm called Sauder’s Quality Eggs.  The oil was manufactured by Clover Valley, which is owned by Dolgencorp, LLC, a subsidiary of Dollar General.  While we don’t know exactly where the vegetables came from, they probably came at least several hundred miles.  They were from a normal supermarket and therefore are probably from Florida, California, or Mexico.

            The only vegetable oil regulation I could find was a bill that requires animal fats and vegetable oils to be regulated just like non-food oils for manufacturing and transportation.  There are many regulations concerning the production of all eggs, to prevent the spread of salmonella, and more for organic eggs.

            Initially, I was suspicious that Sauder’s was a friendly face hiding a large corporation, but I looked through their website and it’s clear they are a small family farm.  Meanwhile, the CEO of Dollar General, David A. Perdue, makes $1.94 million a year.  It’s amazing what a far-reaching effect the purchase of a single meal’s ingredients can have.