AN ENCOUNTER WITH 'MACHAS A LA PARMESANA' -a short story written by Maria-Elena Heed

It was Sunday morning when Pablo woke up with a pounding headache  and his stomach feeling tender.  He had gone for a siesta after arriving from lunch with his mum, sister, cousin, and aunty.  He had no idea how long  he had slept. It was quiet around the house, he could hear  the birds singing their usual morning songs outside, indicating it was dawn.   He was baffled that he’d slept so many hours. He could remember feeling tired and with the desire to sleep. He also recalled going for lunch with everyone at midday.

The day before, the family had planned to go to Valparaiso for lunch. It was a warm sunny day in early summer, the fresh marine breeze helped build an appetite.

Valparaiso, famously known  for its variety of restaurants offering delicious seafood dishes. Auntie Dora often visited ‘La Caleta’ in Valparaiso to have lunch with her colleagues, so she knew which restaurants offered the best fresh seafood in order to avoid seafood poisoning, an unpleasant condition to have.  

The family strolled along the coast to see which restaurant offered the best menu for lunch.  They had a  difficult decision to make between ‘La Nave’ and  ‘La Gaviota’. Finally, they reached a decision to go to  “La Nave”, a restaurant  which not only  offered a variety of good seafood but was also a trustworthy, clean and friendly place. 

The adults spent a couple of hours at the restaurant talking, eating and drinking a good, fruity Chilean white wine; celebrating the long waited reunion after so many years living apart.  Pablo with his sister, and cousin,  chose to have Fanta lemonade as their drink and as a starter the family chose to share ‘Machas  a la Parmesana’,  a typical Chilean dish. 

Machas is a type of pink clam found only in the sea waters of Chile and Perú. They are first boiled for a couple of minutes and once they've opened, white wine and parmesan cheese are added and baked in their shells for 3-5 mins. Delicious! 

Pablo was an adventurous boy for his age when it came down to food.  He had never tried any kind of  seafood before, let alone ‘Machas a la Parmesana!' 

Auntie Dora ordered a dozen as a starter for  the whole group. He was apprehensive to taste them but  his mum persuaded him to taste one. “Come on Pablo”, mum eagerly said, “You may never have this opportunity for a long while”. When the starter arrived his sister and his cousin knew he was going to enjoy the starter. They all were looking at Pablo to see his reaction when he tried the first one not expecting to see his mouth-watering expression. He liked them so much that he ate eight of the twelve in one go. The rest of the food arrived  as they continued talking. As time went by Pablo was feeling full and tired and wanting to go. As soon as they finished  they headed home, Pablo went straight to bed feeling pleasantly drowsy.

His mum was concerned that Pablo hadn't woken up from his siesta after a few hours. Aunty Dora said: “don't worry, he's not used to eating ‘Machas’  leave him to   sleep it off, he most probably  won't wake up  until tomorrow”