Ajiaco: This soup we eat quite frequently and consists of chicken, potato, corn on the cob and my partner's mum adds other vegetables sometimes. You then add a dash of cream and some capers which is lovely. This is actually one of my preferred lunch dishes here.
Colombians are a very proud nation and that extends to their food too, so this is just my honest opinion, massively biased by growing up in Europe with access to such a variety food from around the world. I mean no offence if I criticise... and there are still a lot of things I do like! Of course there is a lot more to add to the list, but these are just the dishes I eat the most or that Colombians I know rave about! Every day home-cooked food in Colombia is fine. I don't love it and I don't hate it. It does it's job and tends to be centered around rice, plaintain/yuca, beans, avocado and meat. But, unfortunately, I don't like avocado and am not a massive fan of plantain or yuca. However, typical Colombian meals in general are not great. They are unvaried and often unhealthy. Good food here tends to be rare and incredibly expensive. That said, they have a different attitude towards food and either eat to live or love fried goods (fritanga) and imported american-style foods such as chicken wings and MacDonalds. Bandeja paisa: When I worked here as an English teacher in 2011, my students told me that the Bandeja Paisa (Paisa relating to the region of Antioquia and Bandeja being 'tray') is the best dish ever but, to be honest, the once or twice I ordered it I was not impressed (I took that photo from Google as I never have it!). It is basically the Colombian version of a fry-up but it is eaten as a proper meal and consists of avocado, rice, arepa, fried egg, beans in a beany sauce (a bit tasteless), chicharrón (really fatty fried pork rind), sausage and sometimes plantain. Tamales: These are a very typical Colombian meal, usually served with rice (what a surprise!). They are a corn-flour based mixture of vegetables, potato and meat, we usually get chicken, wrapped and cooked in a plantain leaf. I think these are pretty nice, although sometimes they come out with soggy gelatinous parts which I am not too keen on. Empanadas and ají: Empanadas are made with corn flour and are like the Colombian equivalent to pasties or samosas. They are filled with meat and potato and have a half-moon or triangular shape. They typically come served with my favourite sauce here called aji which is a mix of spring onions, tomato, chilly, fresh coriander and vinegar. It is one of the rare strong flavours of Colombian cuisine and one of the even rarer sauces. Delicious! Aborrajado: This is a battered sweet plantain (basically banana) with cheese in the middle. No comment. Desgranado de mazorca: This is a typical starter/snack that is basically just sweetcorn and cheese. Sometimes you get them with little thin crisps-like things called fósforos (match sticks). It's delicious! Bread: Ironically for a country with bakeries on every corner open until late at night, Colombian bread is really not good. It is mostly white bread that tends to be pale, undercooked, tasteless or sweet. I do not understand putting sugar in bread! Pandeyuca (cassava bread) is slightly less bland than others but it still just eaten on its own so is very dry. However, the saviour for these bakeries are the pandebono, cheesy bread balls that are delicious when freshly baked as the inside is all soft and gooey! Envuelto de choclo: This is a sweet breakfast item that is made from corn and has a strange texture in between powdery and jelly-like. It's quite nice, although it kind of feels like there are bits of plastic bags in them but I think that must be the casing of the corn kernels! Soups: Sancocho: This is a typical soup made with chicken, plantain, yuca (cassava), coriander and a corn on the cob. Ajiaco: This soup we eat quite frequently and consists of chicken, potato, corn on the cob and my partner's mum adds other vegetables sometimes. You then add a dash of cream and some capers which is lovely. This is actually one of my preferred lunch dishes here. Arepa: These are the typical Colombian carbohydrate, in addition to rice. It is a type of flatbread made out of corn. Sorry to all Colombians but I mostly don't like these. The common very white ones are flavourless. I have never tasted anything that tastes like solid air before. That said, you can buy more expensive ones that are more yellow in colour and have either butter or salt in them to give them more flavour, but even then they are very dry and often eaten on their own with no sauce or spread. These are much better with cheese or egg stuffed inside! Arepa de Choclo: These are made with corn flour that is sweet, and they taste a little like a cake-y brioche-y thing. Delicious! Although these are frequently eaten with cheese.. no no no no. Fruit: Now Colombia is a country of exotic fruit, particularly fruit juices/smoothies. Their pineapples and mangoes are massive and really nice and they have loads of fruit not found elswhere such as lulo, a green fruit commonly used in juices with water and sugar to counteract the acidity, also in lulada, a chunky fruit juice that is a bit too strong for me. They also use passion fruit (maracuyá) a lot but primarily mixed in a juice and never on its own with a spoon like back home! They are very different to the European ones and are big, smooth and look more like oranges from the outside. Granadilla (one of my favourites!) is within the same family. Chontaduro is a small orange fruit that is cooked before eating it cold with salt and honey...! I can only describe it as a potato-y, dry, tasteless bizarre experience! I am not a fan. Guanabana (sour sop in English) is a huge green spiky fruit with white flesh inside that is mostly used in juices with milk and I love this one. It also has anti-cancer properties which is an added bonus! Desserts: Cakes here are often beautifully elaborate and decorated to within an inch of their lives, but it is usually all a facade and the actual inside and taste are very disappointing and for some reason cakes are often soggy (like the Genovesa/tres leches). Colombian desserts are generally nothing special (sorry!) but a post about food without mentioning arequipe would be just wrong. Colombians are a very sweet-toothed nation, primarily due to this thick caramel-type spread that they often just eat with a spoon. I think it's OK but prefer it on or in something, rather than on its own. Obleas are these very thin crispy wafer-type things that are often eaten with arequipe and cream cheese (see below). Without cheese they are nice though!
6 Comments
Don Mol
9/12/2015 06:44:24 pm
You need to try more Colombian food. I can´t understand why people tend to eat just few dishes. For instance, in Cali you can eat great Pacific ones. In Santander they also have good dishes and in some parts of Boyacá. Ajiaco is great too. I think there are some 12 types of tamales, try all of them, not all are bad, and get good quality ones. I hate thin arepas but I love La Calera arepas, think, moist and with cheese inside. Never heard of desgranado de mazorca. I love empanadas, especially those from Popayán. I love amasijos (pandebono, almojábana but not pandeyuca, too hard). I hate champús too but I love lulo juice. I am a professional baker here in Europe and there are many types of breads with sugar here but I agree with you, most breads in Colombia (those in the barrios) are not that good. When i get back and open my bakery I will prepare good quality artisan breads. As a pastry chef too, I have to say that there is none, none dessert from Colombia that I like, of course I would eat manjarblanco and desamargado et al, ´cos, well Im Colombian, but we don´t have good pastries to showcase. Unless you count the ponque de pasas, which is quiet decent. I never heard of avena cubana. If you like to cook, get a ook by Segundo Cabezas, published circa 1980´s, lots of dishes that are worht trying.
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Colombian Food sucks
4/28/2016 06:27:09 pm
No, Colombian food is bland and super boring. I mean if you've never tried other cuisines you would never know how bad you have it. Also why do I never see Colombian Restaurants in other countries? I wonder why?
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Marie
9/12/2015 07:08:29 pm
Hi there. Thank you so much for your insightful comment! I have actually tried all types of Colombian food, pacific included, but as I explained at the beginning of my post, this is just what I have most often in Cali, and what my Colombian friends tell me they love. The list is endless though of course. Like I said above, I actually like tamales, don't worry. About the bread, of course sweet bread exists in other countries too but it is not classed as bread, for sandwiches/burgers etc. It is classed as a cake or dessert item, such as brioche in France. Here, a lot of bread is white and sweet like much mass-produced american bread is. I am just not used to that. Although the El Molino bakery here does do a good variety and quality of bread. Your plans of opening a bakery here sound exciting (and will rival El Molino!) and I am sure you would have a great success as there is a gap in the market!
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Don Mol
9/12/2015 08:06:22 pm
Hum, sometimes I think it wont be successful. I rather set up a stand in some farmers market, have you heard of one you can recommend? Not like a galería, but like a place for organic products or small entrepenuers. Thanks.
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Samir
11/15/2016 03:14:26 pm
Let me say the good before I talk about the bad. And there is bad. A boiled potato with salt is OK only in times of war and rationing.
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Colombian food is the worst
4/11/2018 05:41:38 pm
It's so boring and bland than I had to leave the country before the end if my trip, now that I'm in México I'm tasting... things...
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