Fiambre (Guatemalan Day of the Dead salad)

Guatemala — All Saints Day (November 1) national tradition; combines Spanish colonial cold cuts with indigenous Guatemalan ingredients

Fiambre is Guatemala's extraordinary Day of the Dead (November 1) salad — a composed cold dish of 50+ ingredients including cold cuts (longaniza, jamón, salchichón), pickled vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, sardines, olives, beets, carrots, pacayas (palm flowers), and a vinegar-spiced dressing. It is eaten only on November 1 and is prepared as a family event over several days. Each family has their own combination of ingredients — no two fiambres are identical. The sheer volume and variety symbolises abundance for the dead.

Vinegar-bright, charcuterie-rich, vegetable-varied — complex and simultaneously celebratory and solemn