Throughout my entire time in Colombia, I’ve eaten so many new and amazing foods! I never would have thought of some of these foods, as some are so creative- but others go back hundreds of years to times of indigenous communities. I’ve loved being able to try everything and experience such an important part of Latin-American culture!
This week, I had the opportunity to attend a Colombian cooking class that was held at the university I am attending in Barranquilla. I was so excited to finally learn more about the delicious dishes I had become obsessed with! I’ve quickly learned that plantains and green bananas are a main crop here, so I was not at all surprised that 2 of the dishes we made were based on this plant. One was pureed plantains, like mashed potatoes, but with an entirely different flavor. The other used the same base, but we got to put yummy cheese and delicious chicharrón (pork belly) inside of this pureed mixture, and then fried it! It was incredible- how could fried cheese and pork belly be anything but amazing?
We then moved on to my favorite Colombian dish- arepas! Here, arepas are eaten for any meal and there are a lot of different ways to prepare it- but my favorites are filled with egg. You prepare them by making the arepa like normal, but then hollow it out once it is cooked. Then, you just pour a raw egg into the opening, fry it again, and it’s ready! These are so filling, and a great way to start the day in my opinion.
I really hope that I will be able to bring some of these new skills back to my kitchen at home- I cannot wait to make these famous Colombian foods for my family and friends!