My Discovering Experience

By: Maritza Umaña

For me ahuge learning experience from my “Discovering Lunch” was to realize the socialattitudes of regular people doing regular things in their regular routines, butthat were absolutely extraordinary for me because I was analyzing them as newand different in my book. Number one lesson for me was the interaction betweenthe owner of any restaurant and the customers; it had a familiar and so harmoniousfeel to it, it actually surprise me and made me conclude that most of what a eaterysells is the experience you have while you are in that place, no matter how nicelydecorated it is.  Lesson number two wasthe control us Salvadorians like to have at the moment of our food beingprepared. Whether in a pupuseria o a Concheria (seafood restaurant), we like tosee firsthand what’s going on with our meal, if there’s too much onion in it,too little sauce, if my portion is smaller than the other costumer’s… Out ofthese two lessons I came up with one architectonic conclusion about the layoutof many restaurants in El Salvador, and that is that we sell, not only the foodwe prepare, but the whole experience from cooking it, to putting it together,to giving it out to the costumers just the way they like it. WE SELLEXPERIENCES (Even if we’re unaware of it). 

Last, butnot least, for me the DISCOVERing was in the whole cluster of things we saw, smelled,heard, ate and touched… without any of these aspects my experience would havebeen absolutely different, and probably not as fun and inspiring!