Miss Universe Contestants Dish on Their Favorite Homegrown Dishes

How do Miss Universe contestants stay in shape all the time? By eating reindeer meat, guava tarts, and sea snails, of course! The annual beauty pageant brings together people from all over the world. This year, each Miss Universe contestant was asked for her favorite native dish from her country. Check out some of their answers below, published on the Miss Universe website:

"Conch salad and conch fritters. Conch is essentially a 'sea snail.'"

Miss Universe Bahamas, Cherell Williamson

"Caldo de bolas. It consists of dumplings made from green plantain and stuffed with meat and vegetables, served in a beef broth with corn and yuca. It is delicious. You must try it."

Miss Universe Ecuador, Connie Jiménez

"Red snapper steamed with okra and local spices, inclusive of the Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper, served with rice, peas, and steamed callaloo, and served with a freshly blended fruit punch of papaya, watermelon, mango and banana."

Miss Universe Jamaica, Isabel Dalley

"Reindeer meat."

Miss Universe Finland, Shirly Karvinen:

"Definitely Tim Tams!"

Miss Universe Australia, Caris Tiivel

"I love guava tarts! Guava is one of my favorite fruits and is grown locally in the islands. We have amazing local bakeries that bake fresh guava tarts daily, and I grew up eating them as a sweet treat. Now, I love to pick one up before I travel and take it with me on the plane as a snack."

Miss Universe US Virgin Islands, Carolyn Carter

"Flia consists of multiple crepe-like layers brushed with cream and served with yogurt. There are sayings that hundreds of years ago, when flia was cooked for the first time, its ingredients and way of preparation were results of poverty. Flia requires very simple ingredients such as flour, water and salt."

Miss Universe Kosovo, Camila Barraza

And finally, our very own Filipina Maxine Medina's favorite native dish?

"Kare-kare."

Read the full article on the official Miss Universe website.

Main image screencap taken from the official Miss Universe YouTube page. 

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