As I prepared for my move to Chile, I made a deal with myself: Be adventurous, open minded and try everything at least once. After all, if I’m not stepping out of my comfort zone, I’m not learning. Today, my goal was to apply my mission statement to Chilean cuisine.

I never used to consider myself a picky eater, but there are admittedly many foods I don’t like. I don’t eat meat off the bone; since a young child, the practice has given me an image of cannibalism and the whole idea is just gross to me. I don’t particularly like raw tomatoes … with fresh cherry tomatoes being a new occasional exception. I’ll pass on cucumbers, dill pickles and anything sour. I can’t tolerate spicy food. I don’t eat any dairy products, but that’s just because I have an allergy, not because I don’t like them.

Knowing that Chile is not known for tasty food, I worried what choices I’d be left with in a land far south from the comforts of pasta, potatoes and hamburgers. I’ve cringed at the idea of tasting meat not only right off the bone, but from parts of animals that just shouldn’t be eaten (I haven’t seen any nonsense like that in this South American country).

But if I could have guessed 10 popular Chilean dishes before moving to this country, I would never have guessed hot dogs … covered with mayonnaise.

As I’ve wandered the streets of Santiago, they are everywhere. Street vendors and restaurants feature it for daily specials. Every grocery store literally has an entire aisle devoted to hot dogs and at least half of one stocked full of mayonnaise in large bags and jars. There are even hot dog-covered pizzas, luckily that dish doesn’t come with a side of mayonnaise (as far as I know).

A baseball game just isn’t the same without a frank and I don’t mind a little mayo on my sandwich, so I thought maybe there could be something besides a clogged artery in this whole putting the two together idea.

I headed into a crowded eatery in Providencia (an upper-class Santiago neighborhood) to try it out. I ordered the hot dog the traditional Chilean way, a meal called a Chilean Completo: A foot-long hot dog topped with raw tomatoes (of course) and smothered — SMOTHERED — in guacamole and mayo on a thick bun. This dish’s only saving grace was the guac, so as I took my first bite I tried to focus on how fresh and yummy the avocados tasted. It was my hope that if I only thought about the avocados, that’s all I would taste. I was so so so wrong.

My Chilean Completo.

The hot dog wasn’t terrible, but it was boiled because that’s how Chileans cook practically everything. The bread here is very dry, and this bun was no different. But with those downfalls and even the raw tomatoes, I think I could have choked down a few more bites, but … there were gobs and gobs of mayonnaise. I even tried to scrape some of it off because I was so hungry, but there was just too much. I stomached four bites. About an hour later, my stomach started to churn, but I was also on the metro when that happened so it could have been the motion sickness.

What’s the strangest food combo you have tried, where was it from and did you like it?

—JDF