Gabriela Mistral at the table

In rural Chile, where Lucila Godoy grew up, meals were not divided into starter-main-dessert but organized around the rhythm of the day: a light *desayuno* at dawn, a midday *almuerzo* built around a *cazuela* or legumes as a single nourishing base, the afternoon *onces* (equivalent to tea-time, with kneaded bread and a sweet drink), and a simple *comida* in the evening. Everything revolved around a hearty staple dish stretched over several days, complemented by bread, dried fruits from the valley, and a drink made from wheat or *huesillos*.

An iconic gesture of peasant Chile: wheat is toasted then ground into a golden flour with a hazelnut aroma. Cheap, nourishing, portable, it served as a drink (*ulpo*), a thickener, or a trail snack. This taste of Andean frugality stayed with Mistral all her life.