The Columbian gastronomy

The cuisine varies from region to region depending on culture-specific climate: tropical fruit and cereal in warm areas, and citrus fruits in temperate zones, wheat, potatoes and corn in cold areas. Large cities offer more international cuisine and luxurious restaurants. In villages, market stalls serve food simple but tasty at ridiculous prices.

Traditional meals (comida corriente)

They consist of rice - or potatoes - and red beans, a piece of beef, chicken or fish, sometimes plantains.

Specialties to discover

- The ajiaco Bogota is a soup made with chicken, corn, various potatoes and cream cheese;
- The bandeja paisa, the region of Antioquia includes beef, rice, black beans, fried plantains, chorizo, avocado and an egg;
- The tamale, is a dish of grilled pork with rice and vegetables, all cooked in a banana leaf.
- The gamitana is one of the best fish of the Amazon.

At all income declined, add a wide variety of empanadas (cakes filled with meat or cheese), as the arepa, a pancake with corn flour.

Seafood

Along the coast, fish, seafood and shellfish abound. The lobster is offered at bargain prices, but often in defiance of instructions on fisheries.

Desserts

There are all kinds of fruits (apples, citrus, bananas, strawberries ...) including many tropical fruits, or almost unknown in our latitudes (curuba, sapote, Uchuva, guanabana ...). For pastries, there are blanks in cakes and coconut, and some specialties.

- The cake is a mantecada corn flour flavored with vanilla.
- The con cuajada melao is a piece of cheese wrapped in a banana leaf and drizzled with sugar syrup.
- The postre de nata is a cake with cream in the region of Cundinamarca and Boyaca.

Drinks

Coffee

- Coffee is the national drink of course; it is served everywhere, even in the street, in small cups. Black, it is "tinto" and, with a little milk, "pint". Sweet enough in general if it is not specified, it is stronger or weaker depending on the region.

Colombia is the second largest producer of coffee after Brazil (for the first premium coffee). There are about 150 000 plantations in the country. Coffee farming is done on a mountainside between 900 and 1500 m altitude. This is a major export product of Colombia, its image being portrayed by the character of Juan Valdez, this friendly coffee producer mustache with his ass out of the imagination of advertising. You should know that the abundance of this culture began in the early nineteenth century, the days of Spanish missionaries. Rather than forcing their sinful flock to recite prayers, the priests made their plant coffee trees as a penance.

Soft drinks

In tropical areas, the natural fruit juices are fabulous. Colombians consume a lot of sodas which are local brands and different flavors.

Alcoholic beverages

- There are several local beers cheap, the Aguila, light enough, is the most consumed.

- For hard liquor, aguardiente de Medellín is consumed without much moderation by the middle class, as well as rum on the Caribbean coast. Rum (a specialty of Antioquia) brown Viejo de Caldas and Tres Esquinas are most wanted, served in cafes and nightclubs.

- In the Andes, as in Peru and Bolivia, Indians consume chicha, fermented corn liquor shared in common a barrel.