Food in Colombia

kat1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on May 9, 2005, 03:32:

I love arepas but the arepas con queso or the eggs one, I must admit that the simple arepa I don't like, I remembered a neighbour in Colombia invited my daughter to an arepa with chocolate, when she came home I asked her if she liked it, her answer was "mum I love the chocolate but I didn't like that big biscuit" blessed her.

I do love Colombian food it's delicious. what kind of food and where has you been eaten?

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kernow62 says on May 9, 2005, 04:14:

I agree with Kat, the plain ones usually aren't good. I used to date a girl from Medellín and her mother used to make great arepas, they only taste really good after they get blackened a little bit and drizzled with salty butter, and of course they must be eaten right away. The ones that come with your meal at most restaurants aren't good at all, they are just filler. Arepa de chocolo is an altogether different dish and are usually very good.

My favourite food is ajiaco, with guascas of course but I will pass on the capers. I also love sancocho de gallina.

I have had really good food in Colombia and really bad food, so don't give up.

I also like to just buy a couple of empanadas a piece of chorizo and some papa criollas and perhaps almojabanas and sit in a park and eat it. The bakeries in Colombia are usually very good. How about hot chocolate with a piece of warm ros con, excellent.

If you don't like plain food then you might not like Colombian food.

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SingSling says on May 9, 2005, 04:36:

Not for me.. I guess that it is just not for me really. All the Colombians I have come across really love their country's food from home yet for me it just isn't very interesting, can't get too excited about frijoles and deep fried pork belly. I mean isn't there some sort of cutting edge Colombian food it all seems rather simple and rather old fashioned (fried, full of salt and sugar etc.)Best thing I have come across are the cerviches but it is difficult to get fresh fish inland.

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dwmte says on May 9, 2005, 04:48:

i think your response to colombian food for the first time... is understandable and all but typical.....i as well, found the food bland, needing salt, and relatively innocuous. it was only after time that i found that it was a really healthy diet they have and that it was my over stimulated diet that was in errors.

the first time i ate an arepa was shocking. it qualified as the blandest thing i had ever had in my life. and to get it served with a drink (ron and coke) was an invasion of my imigination. it was relatively dry, saltless--clearly kosher--and without leavening, and bland to a fault. really odd item to my mouth.

well, some 16 years later, i eagerly await the appearance of arepas, homemade by my wife, in our home in florida...daytona beach. that my friends, is living. your wife making home made breads--arepas--in the house. if you dont have it, friends, i suggest you get a life and get it. cause that's part of why we suffer our uniquely colombian wives who torture us todeath while they love us beyond our worth. interesting, no?

people tell me that what ever, whatever, it's basically the same all over the world. there's good and bad, black and white, love and hate, etc. everywhere. well, yes, there's truth in that observation and comment. however, there exist profound differences, throughout the world, in those common-nesses (i had to make that one up). and in my personal observation and opinion, there is a uniqueness to colombia not found anywhere else. sure there's women, homes, lives children, parents, everywhere, i mean everywhere...like, would you say home and hearth and family, work, etc. are the same in england or germany, as they are in colombia? of course not. there all of those things in all of those places, but theyre all different. and it's that unique difference that makes colombia and colombians, colombia and colombians, that makes at least me, but maybe all of us, love Her so much. si o no.

i went wide of the food there but in so many respects, it's just not the food...it's the whole package....home, hearth, family, life experience...the colombian way is great. doesn't happen to fast, it happens, and we live through it with a smile. does it get any better?

so, to be short, bear with it friend, maybe you'll discover you love it more than you think you're disenchanted with it now.

peace, welcome to colombia,

dw

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kernow62 says on May 9, 2005, 04:49:

I didn't have trouble finding fish in and around Bogotá.

Usually "cutting edge" food involves using ideas gleaned from other cultures icorporated with local ingredients and then it isn't Colombian cuisine. I love simple fried food in moderation of course, but fresh fruit, juices help to balance things out.

I don't know if you are from the US or UK or wherever but what do you consider cutting edge food? In Bogotá you can find food from other cultures but I guess this isn't what you are really after.

What about some nice fat juicy hormigas?

To me I am less interested in cutting edge and more interested in a nice substantial meal at a nice price. I much prefer traditional country French farm fare to fancy gourmet French cuisine.

Give some examples of what you are looking for, I am sure there must be a restaurant in Bogotá that serves it, unless you are in a smaller city perhaps.

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kat1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on May 9, 2005, 05:57:

If the worst come the worst we have Mc Donalds. heheh

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SingSling says on May 9, 2005, 06:33:

In the provinces I'm afraid I do not spend much time in Bogota so I am really stuck with what is available in Pereira which apart from 'platos tipicos' isn't much. I am originally from the UK and what has happened there over the last 30 years I guess forms the background to my experiences. British food used to be the laughing stock of Europe but in recent times there has been an explosion of different styles incorporating all sorts of influences (not all wholly successful) such that apparently the UK now has more top restaurants in the world's top 50 then anywhere else (survey published last month if you can believe it)! And yes I love simple traditional French and Italian cooking but if you offered me traditional British cooking I would run a mile.

I fully understand that for some the authenticity of a country's cuisine is important but for me it is not I just want to be able to try different things but reserve the right to find them bland (and I really really hate deep frying)... My Colombian wife has spent so much time with me in Asia that she yearns to go back to somewhere like Singapore for the riot of flavours and textures you find in asian cooking.

This isn't meant to be a moan more a genuine enquiry as to whether I was missing out on a whole area of Colombian cuisine, I guess I will end up cooking a lot at home while in Pereira (though there is a decent Steak restaurant there), it just seems a shame to me when there should be such wonderful ingredients in a country with two oceans and which is on the equator that the cuisine hasn't come under more outside influences.

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Rubiazo says on May 9, 2005, 06:45:

big difference in bogota I had the most incredible sushi when i was there. Best I ever have had in my life. Also the most incredble hamburger. And unlike some Spanish countries they do understand what HOT SAUCE is.

My one complaint is that is very difficult to get your meat RARE in Bogota, which is also true of many other spanish countries (Argentina being a notable exception). They have a tendency to overcook meats there. Of course, I do have the same problem here in many instances.

Kernow, do you mean to tell me they have 'comida prehispanica' in Colombia too? If so, let me know where I can get some in Bogota. I've been dying to try that forever!!

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dwmte says on May 9, 2005, 07:57:

friend...the comida prehispanica is..... human flesh. remember some of the roots of the colombian blood line are cannibals. as wit, the putamayo in amazonas, alive and well today.

as for how they cook steak,...i'm in full agreement. to take a piece of filet mignon and cook it to shoe leather is a sin against food. 'rare' just has a different meaning. my wife can destroy a $13.00 a lb. filet by frying it dry. pity.

and i'll admit the cuisine of colombia may not fall into the catagory, haut cuisine...it is rudimentary and healthy, stick to your bones kinda food. however, after subsisting on it with 40,000,000 others for a number of years, i don't feel cheated at all. actually i'm quite content. that does not mean! that i am not fully fond of fine cooking, be it asiatic, south western, oceanic, middle-eastern, etc. i love them all. but even in it's modest simplicity, i love, as well all the food of colombia....excepting, OF COURSE, menudo....

dw.

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kat1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on May 9, 2005, 08:02:

Italian and french food are q Italian and French food are quite rich in sauces, in colombia we don't put to much of the food, for example if you go to a French restaurant on the menu you will find things like fish in wine sauce or beef in so and so sauce plus the veggies and potatoes, the same the Italians, but Colombian tend to be more simplier like the rice or the soup, the meat or chicken hardly bring any spice or sauces with it. I love it because sometimes this sauce takes the flavour of the real thing.La bandeja paisa is quite simple but yummy. el ajiaco, mote de queso etc. if you go to a good restaurant in Bogota you will find tasty dishes. another thing depend how they cooked the meal too as kernow says some places are good some are bad, I notice that the restaurants in Bogota can't cook the food from the coast of Colombia properly, their coconut rice is horrible. somebody told me to go and try Narco bollo, next time i will go and see.
PS: DON'T TELL ME YOU DONT LIKE A GOOD SUNDAY ROAST, I LOVE IT!
And remember in Colombia each region have their own typical dish

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N2Aquatix says on May 9, 2005, 08:36:

Fried Food I found the food to be very pleasant. Even the burger joints (except for McDonalds) had actually authentic burgers, almost like a back-yard burgers. The Mediterranean style steaks were great. The seafood I had was very good as well. I don't recall seeing any deep fried food, except for fried chicken, but I was eating at restaurants so I don't really know what they cook in the average household. It's nice to know that they do some deep-frying though because I'm from Alabama and they fry just about everything you can imagine down here! I was a bit worried that my Colombian fiancee might not be familiar with a lot of fried foods.

Jay

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dwmte says on May 9, 2005, 09:14:

kat... como es esta narco bollo? no midiga...algo de los trafficantes?

yo comi mucho comida tipica, y nunca esta.

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carolain11 says on May 9, 2005, 09:18:

I don't know about the food in pereira, but in the northern coast it is simply marvelous, there you have the platano picaro which is very ripe plantain cooked with cinnamon, honey, clavo de olor and sometimes kola roman ( a type of soda), you also have the posta (beef or fish) the fish posta is usually sierra, with coconut milk, you also have the arroz con coco which can be light or dark (sometimes they put raisins in it), you can also find the viudo de pescado (not a favorite for me, patacon with suero, arepa de huevo con carne molida y queso costeño, carimañolas, jugo de zapote o nispero, bollo limpio, de yuca o de angelito, arepas de anis, mote de ñame con queso,mongo-mongo, dulce de mamey, de mango o de papayuela, sancocho trifasico, with pork, costilla, chicken and platano yuca and ñame, let's not forget about the sancocho de guandul and carne salada which is a grain similar to peas, but much tastier... to me the best food, the richest in ingredients and taste, is that of the coasts, whether it is the pacific or the northern one... regarding arepas, the best one is arepa santandereana you it tastes great even without any cheese or butter or salt on top. that being said, I'm off to lunch...

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carolain11 says on May 9, 2005, 09:21:

if anybody is interstedin knowing a little more bout the comida costeña or cartagenera in particular, check this link http://www.cartagenacaribe.com/cultura/cocina.htm
and if you can get ahold of the book "cartagena de indias en la olla", what are you waiting for? it's a must...

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dwmte says on May 9, 2005, 09:22:

dona carolain... yo quiero come en su casa.

dw

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Desideria (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on May 9, 2005, 09:24:

I like Colombian cuisine with it's subtle, delicate flavors. It's true that there's a lot of room for more adventurous recipes using local vegetables and fruit and the meats are as a rule, overcooked. I don't eat at restaurants in Colombia that often but am quite familiar with home cooking and it's also true that they overuse the deep-fry method and combine a lot of starchy roots, legumes and grain in one and the same dish. The problem, I think, is that in many Colombian families it's the maid who prepares the food and has often only rudimentary skills in food preparing.

Colombian cooking at it's worst is an overcooked fish totally drowned in tomato and onion 'hogao' where you can hardly distinguish any fish flavor at all. At it's best it's nutritive, hearty soups with meats or chicken (sancocho de gallina, de cola, sopa de tortilla, ajiaco etc), crunchy and tender sobrebarriga (flank steak?) al horno, herbal-flavored chicken roast, aborrajados (ripe plaintain slices pre-fried and fried second time with a slice of cheese and inside dough shell), torta de maduro (ripe plaintain cake with cheese and spices), tamales from the Valle (combined pork and chicken, with carrot slices and peas baked in corn dough, then wrapped in plaintain leaves for the final cooking in boiling water), delicate, crunchy empanadas vallunas with their meat/potato filling, empanadas de pipián from Popayan with the peanut butter sauce)...
ohmygosh,
are you getting hungry yet?
and the best that the country has to offer: delicious and nutritive fruit shakes in milk or in water; I make them at home most often without any added sugar.

Cheers,
Desi

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth)

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kat1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on May 9, 2005, 09:32:

dwmt narco bollo is a restaurant in Bogota, they call it like that because people became suspicios of sacks of white powder entering the restaurant, so the DAS came in and did an allanamiento (search) thinking that was cocaine and all it's was just flour. So now the restaurant is called narco bollo ;-)

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RUV says on May 9, 2005, 09:58:

I have to agree with SingSling
I love Colombia. Did not find Aripa to my taste. The steaks are more like carne asada. It is more my fault then anything. I was comparing Colombia to Argentina and Brazil. No comparison. I did not try the chicken soup. Not sure what they call in Colombia.

RUV

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