After my long and extensive What to Eat in Mexico post collection, it's time to extend my horizon, especially since I find myself in Colombia these days. Though I won't be here for longer than a week, so instead of a series of posts focusing on one specialty each, I want to highlight the sum of my culinary experience in this South American country, particularly its Caribbean town of Santa Marta.
Coming Prepared
Before traveling to Colombia I asked a friend of mine who originates from here to give me some recommendations for what I absolutely had to try. Being very proud of her culture, she immediately gave me a whole list of dishes that I could not leave the country without trying. These included local drinks and a few foods that she even admitted that I may not find where I was going, since it was from other regions of the country. Still, I decided to keep my eyes open and try whatever I had the chance to taste, and give her my impressions about them.
Arepa de Huevo / Queso
Technically the arepa is the South American version of the Mexican tortilla, but in fact it is so much more. Sure, it is also a patty made of corn flour, but way thicker, and can be filled with a number of ingredients. In this way, they are more similar to the Mexican Tlacoyo. The most typical one is made with eggs, which make a nice breakfast dish.I was told to get them preferably from the streets, but these ones came from an eatery inside the hotel complex. Still, they were delicious and gave me the feeling of eating a common, everyday dish.
The same thing could not be said about the cheese arepa pictured below. I bought it to accompany a tinto (coffee) at a Juan Valdez café, and it turned out to be rather... cardboard like. I had been warned though, but I took the risk anyway. In the end, I finished it up, mostly due to a significant hunger I needed to attend.
Cayeye
Surely, we all know mashed potatoes. And what works with potatoes works certainly great with other veggies, such as cauliflowers, which I once posted about. But can you imagine the same with bananas? Well, you will be surprised (even if you can, since the taste is so incredible...)! Sure, the appearance is simply some mush, but once you taste it, it will set off a firework of flavors. Pictured here, it accompanies some fried octopus, and I can tell you, without it the octopus would have felt quite alone and boring!
Patacones
Once you've mashed them, you may as well fry them. This principle applies not only to potatoes, but pretty much to anything else, including bananas. The result is called Patacones in Colombia, which can be combined with anything else, just like potatoes, or they could be eaten on their own. In this case they were served with sour cream and a non-spicy tomato-based sauce.
Jugo de Corozo
Normally I am a bit careful with refreshing soft drinks, as they tend to be overloaded with sugar. Still, when I saw corozo juice offered in a cafe, I just had to try it (and tic it off my list). I would have loved to take a picture of the fruit itself, but unfortunately that was not available. Without ice and without sugar the drink was truly delicious, refreshing, and honestly, just mildly sweet, which was just enough for me.
Raspado
Finishing our list of culinary recommendations, my wife got herself a raspado, which is crushed ice with some syrup poured over it. In this case they called it "kola" which I am not quite sure about. Clearly it's not coke type of cola (fortunately), so the only other thing I can think of is the kola nut. But would that be red...? I'm not sure. In any case, I'm not a big fan of slushies, snow cones, or any other forms of ice, so I gave her the honor of tasting this recommended refreshment. She said it was good. Good.
I feel we could have done a lot more in trying the delicacies of the Colombian Caribbean, but one week is not that long, plus my mom was cooking also many of her delicious dishes. All in all I can say that Colombian cuisine was surprisingly tasty, even though - or maybe precisely because - they don't seem to be big on spicy food. So I can highly recommend trying all these foods whenever you happen to travel to this part of the world.