Paraguay is the secret heart of South America. Landlocked between Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil, with a population of around 7 million, a heritage that is half Spanish and half Guaraní (the indigenous people whose language remains an official national language alongside Spanish), Paraguay has produced a cuisine that bears very little resemblance to those of its neighbours. While Argentina is famous for its beef and Brazil for its abundance, Paraguay's culinary identity rests on something quieter and more specific: a particular triangle of cassava, corn and cheese that produces foods unlike anything else in the region.
In Dubai, Paraguay is invisible. There is no Paraguayan restaurant, no Paraguayan supermarket, no Paraguayan cultural centre. The Paraguayan community in the UAE is small — estimated at well under 300 people total. And yet, for the curious eater, this means there is an entire South American cuisine quietly waiting to be discovered through home cooking, embassy events, and the substitutes available in the city. This is the complete guide.
The Four Pillars of Paraguayan Cuisine
Cassava (Mandioca)
The root vegetable of pre-Columbian Paraguay — eaten boiled as a side with asado, ground into starch for chipa and mbeju, fried as chips, and turned into chipa so'o (filled with meat). Cassava is to Paraguay what wheat is to Italy: the carbohydrate foundation of the cuisine.
Corn (Avatí)
Both the cornmeal that defines sopa paraguaya and the fresh corn kernels in chipa guazu. Paraguay has more corn-and-cheese baked dishes than any other South American cuisine — a heritage of indigenous farming meeting European dairy practices.
Cheese (Queso Paraguay)
A specific kind of fresh, salty, slightly elastic cheese — closer to halloumi than to cheddar — that is the binding ingredient in chipa, sopa paraguaya and most baked dishes. The cheese is what makes Paraguayan cooking taste distinct from neighbouring cuisines.
Beef & Mate
Asado culture is shared with Argentina but distinct in approach (more ribs, less ritual). Mate is drunk cold in summer (as tereré) and hot in winter, and is consumed in much greater quantities per capita than in any other country — Paraguay is the world capital of mate.
The 10 Essential Paraguayan Dishes
Chipa
The national bread — cassava starch, eggs, cheese, lard, aniseed and milk, baked into small rings or balls. Sold from baskets at bus stations and on long-distance journeys. Eaten warm with mate. Full chipa guide →
Sopa Paraguaya
The dense, savoury baked corn-and-cheese cake confusingly named 'soup'. Cornmeal, onion, eggs, milk, fresh cheese, salt — baked in a hot oven until firm and golden. Served sliced, room temperature, alongside asado or as a hearty snack.
Chipa Guazu
The wetter, softer cousin of sopa paraguaya — uses fresh corn kernels rather than dry cornmeal, giving a moister, custardier texture. Often considered the more sophisticated of the two corn cakes. Served as a side with grilled meat.
Mbeju
Pan-cooked cassava starch pancake bound with cheese — crispy outside, chewy inside, slightly sweet from the cheese. Eaten as breakfast or snack with mate. Gluten-free by nature. The most distinctively Guaraní of the Paraguayan staples.
Bori Bori
A chicken or beef broth filled with small cornmeal-and-cheese dumplings (the bori bori). Warming, simple, deeply nourishing — the Paraguayan grandmother's go-to winter dish.
Paraguayan Asado
Beef-led barbecue: rib racks (costilla), short ribs (asado de tira), chorizo, morcilla and sometimes whole sides of lamb or goat. Cooked over wood embers rather than open flame, slower than Argentine asado. Served with mandioca, sopa paraguaya and chimichurri.
Vorí Vorí de Pollo
The chicken-specific version of bori bori, with shredded chicken in the broth alongside the corn dumplings. Often considered the national soup. Served with chunks of mandioca on the side.
Chipa So'o
Chipa filled with seasoned ground beef — a more substantial cousin of the standard chipa. The cassava-cheese pastry is wrapped around a filling of cooked beef, onion, hard-boiled egg and herbs. Sold at bakeries and as street food.
Tereré
Iced mate — yerba mate steeped in cold water with crushed ice and a handful of herbs (peppermint, lemongrass, coconut). Drunk all day in Paraguay, especially in summer. Shared from a single guampa (drinking vessel) passed around a circle. The national beverage.
Dulce de Mamón
The classic Paraguayan dessert — green papaya cooked slowly in sugar syrup until translucent and candied, served chilled with fresh queso paraguay alongside. The sweet-salty combination of fruit and cheese is uniquely Paraguayan.
The Guaraní Heritage
What distinguishes Paraguayan cuisine from its neighbours is the unbroken influence of Guaraní food culture. Guaraní is one of Paraguay's two official languages (spoken by 90% of the population alongside Spanish), and the indigenous ingredient base — cassava, corn, sweet potato, peanut, pumpkin, guava, papaya — remains the foundation of cooking in a way it doesn't in Argentina or Brazil. When colonial Spanish ingredients arrived (cheese, beef, lard, wheat), they were folded into existing Guaraní techniques rather than replacing them. The result is a mestizo cuisine that is genuinely fifty-fifty — not Spanish food with indigenous touches, but a fusion at the structural level.
This is why chipa and sopa paraguaya have no real equivalents in neighbouring countries. The technique of binding cassava starch with cheese, or baking cornmeal with cheese and eggs into a savoury cake, comes from a culinary logic that exists nowhere else.
Finding Paraguayan Food in Dubai
Embassy & Community Events
Abu Dhabi-based embassy · Limited frequencyThe Paraguayan embassy in Abu Dhabi occasionally hosts cultural events that include food — particularly around Paraguay's Independence Day on 14 May and the Battle of Boquerón remembrance on 29 September. These are the rare opportunities to taste authentic chipa, sopa paraguaya and asado paraguayo cooked by Paraguayan nationals. Events are advertised through the embassy's social channels and the small Paraguayan community in the UAE.
Argentine Asado Restaurants (Closest Substitute)
Asado, La Cabaña · Multiple locationsFor the beef-and-grill side of Paraguayan cuisine, Argentine asado restaurants in Dubai are the closest available substitute. Asado at Palace Downtown serves traditional rib cuts grilled over wood embers in a style very similar to Paraguayan technique. The corn-and-cheese-and-cassava side of Paraguayan cooking is missing — you would need to bring sopa paraguaya from home — but the asado itself is recognisable.
Home Cooking (The Real Answer)
Your kitchen · All ingredients availableThe honest answer for anyone serious about Paraguayan food in Dubai is to cook it yourself. Cassava starch (tapioca starch) is widely available at Filipino, Indian and Brazilian groceries in Karama, Satwa and Deira. Fresh corn, cornmeal, eggs, milk and cheese are everywhere. The cheese is the trickiest substitution — halloumi works reasonably well as a substitute for queso paraguay (similar saltiness, similar elasticity), and feta-with-mozzarella gives a closer flavour for chipa specifically. With these substitutions, every dish in this guide is achievable at home for under AED 80 in ingredients.
Sourcing Paraguayan Ingredients in Dubai
Shopping List for a Paraguayan Pantry
- Cassava starch (tapioca starch / almidón de mandioca): Carrefour, Brazilian aisle at Lulu, Filipino groceries in Satwa. AED 10–14 per kg.
- Cornmeal (harina de maíz): Carrefour Latin section. AED 12–18 per kg.
- Fresh corn kernels: Frozen bag at any supermarket, or fresh at Waitrose / Spinneys. AED 8–15.
- Queso paraguay substitute: Halloumi (closest match) or low-moisture mozzarella + feta blend. AED 25–35 per 500g.
- Yerba mate: Argentine aisle at Carrefour, or specialist coffee shops in DIFC. AED 40–55 per 500g.
- Aniseed (for chipa): Any spice section. AED 5–10 per pack.
- Whole cassava (mandioca): Frozen at Filipino groceries, fresh at Indian markets in Deira. AED 12–20 per kg.
Paraguayan Mate Culture: Tereré
While Argentina and Uruguay drink mate hot, Paraguay drinks it cold — almost obsessively. Tereré is yerba mate steeped in icy water (often pre-infused with crushed peppermint, lemongrass or coconut), drunk through a metal straw (bombilla) from a hollowed cow's horn or wooden cup (guampa). It is shared from a single vessel passed around a circle of friends, refilled with water each round. Paraguayans drink tereré all day, every day — in offices, at the beach, at football matches, in traffic. It is the central social ritual of Paraguayan life.
In Dubai, the heat makes tereré an obviously suitable drink. Yerba mate is available, ice is everywhere, mint and lemongrass are easy to source. A proper guampa is rarer — substitute with a tall glass and a metal straw. The crucial cultural distinction (sharing from one vessel) is up to you to honour.
Explore Paraguayan & Latin Food in Dubai
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is sopa paraguaya called soup if it isn't a soup?
The most popular legend: in the mid-1800s, the chef at a Paraguayan president's residence accidentally added too much cornmeal to a thick soup. Rather than discard it, she baked it. The president liked the result and asked for it to be served — and called it 'soup' by reflex. The dish stayed; the name stayed; everyone has been confused ever since.
Is Paraguayan food halal-friendly?
Largely yes. There is no pork-centric culture in Paraguay — beef dominates — and most traditional dishes (chipa, sopa paraguaya, mbeju, bori bori) are vegetarian. The few exceptions are some asado side dishes (morcilla, certain chorizos) which contain pork. Halal beef substitutes are easy at home; in restaurants, the Argentine asado spots in Dubai all use halal meat.
Why is Paraguayan food so rare outside Paraguay?
Paraguay has a small population (7 million), a small diaspora, and a cuisine built around specific ingredients (queso paraguay, particular cassava strains, fresh corn varieties) that don't travel as well as, say, beef. Unlike Peru, Brazil or Mexico, Paraguay has never had a major restaurant export wave. This is exactly what makes finding it interesting — it remains genuinely undiscovered.
What's the difference between sopa paraguaya and chipa guazu?
Sopa paraguaya uses dry cornmeal and is firmer and drier. Chipa guazu uses fresh corn kernels (sometimes blended, sometimes whole) and is softer, moister, more custard-like. Both contain cheese, eggs and onion. Chipa guazu is generally considered the more refined of the two; sopa paraguaya is the more workmanlike, hearty option.
