Lomo a lo pobre

Bistec a lo Pobre is a hearty popular South American dish of steak, fried eggs, fried potatoes, and fried onions.

Two nations lay claim to this simple but filling dish of steak, eggs, rice and plantains. Diners in Peru and Chile regularly sit down to a plate of steak, onions (always fried), and eggs. Add potatoes and plantain and you’ve got a protein and starch powerhouse. “Pobre” means poor so you can probably guess that this was a food of the less well off residents of cities like Lima, where low-income workers added (and still add) ingredients to steak dishes for variety.

There are several possible origins for the term "a lo pobre."

One is that it was named because of the irony of nineteenth-century Peruvian common folk eating similar dishes with an abundance of food and at a heavy price, despite their economic situation.

Alternatively, it may have originated due to the idea that poorer residents of Lima ate meat combined with carbohydrates, eggs, and rice, while higher-class individuals were associated with eating meat alone with a vegetable. Yet another possibility is that it is a derivation from "au Poivre" even though the preparations are quite different.

Today it is consumed in lower- and upper-class restaurants, and there is no negative connotation associated with the dish.

The term "a lo pobre" in Lima, Peru today may refer simply to the addition of a fried egg and is used in other dishes besides steak, such as grilled chicken breast (pechuga a lo pobre), rice (especially arroz chaufa), lomo saltado, salchipapas, or even hamburgers.