{"id":1385,"date":"2011-09-22T19:53:54","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T00:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?p=1385"},"modified":"2013-05-10T11:46:26","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T16:46:26","slug":"5-colombian-foods-you-cant-avoid-even-if-you-try","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2011\/09\/5-colombian-foods-you-cant-avoid-even-if-you-try\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Colombian Foods You Can’t Avoid (Even If You Try)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like anywhere, Colombian food ranges from the delectable to the simply efficient to the downright confusing. In England we put a fish covered in batter in a newspaper and call it a national dish.<\/p>\n

A great thing in the bigger cities such as Bogot\u00e1, Medell\u00edn<\/a> and Cartagena is that there’s a huge amount of selection and influences from both international and traditional cuisine. You can find food from all around the world (even English fish and chips) and, moreover, it’s of a very high quality.<\/p>\n

Which is all well and good when you’re travelling in Colombia<\/a> and hunting down restaurants. However, when you’re in a rush and just want to fill yourself, or if you’re on a budget, you’ll find that there’s a few staples you can’t avoid. So before you come, best to\u00a0acquaint\u00a0yourself with the following food items, just to be prepared:<\/p>\n

Arepas<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Arepas\"<\/a>
Arepas, love ’em or hate ’em<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For most foreigners in Colombia, arepas are a love\/hate thing. An arepa is made of pre-cooked corn flour or corn dough which is then mixed with water and salt. The mixture is finally kneaded into the familiar flat, round shape before being grilled, fried or cooked. For many Colombians (we’re looking at Marcela, here), passing a day without an arepa is a near impossibility (almost 85% of people in Medell\u00edn eat at least one arepa a day), but thanks to the wonderful invention of something known as bread<\/em>, many travellers are indifferent to them.<\/p>\n

Plantain<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Fried<\/a>
Fried plantain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Landing in an awkward place between sweet and savoury is plantain. Favoured by Colombians as a compliment to main dishes, the quality of plantain varies greatly from restaurant to restaurant, but if you get the right one they can be delicious. Their strong, distinctive flavor means that foreigners may struggle to eat them every time they come with a meal, but when they’re served in surprising ways (like with cheese in the middle) you could well start a love affair.<\/p>\n

Soup<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Ajiaco\"<\/a>
Ajiaco<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If there’s one thing that characterizes Colombian cuisine it’s soup. You may be thinking ‘but we have soup in the States’, and you’d be right. You do. But we’re not talking chicken and mushroom here, nor tomato. Colombian soup is often a main meal in its own right, served sometimes with pork, chicken, fish and beef (known as sancocho trifacico), sometimes with chicken and three different types of potato (ajiaco), and that’s just the beginning of the varieties. Oh, and usually it’s a starter.<\/p>\n

Carbs<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Prepare for a lot of carbs if you opt for the ‘menu ejecutivo’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Atkins be damned! One of the best things about cheap Colombian cuisine if you’re backpacking is that it comes with carbs, carbs and more carbs. We’re talking in one plate (after your soup starter): plantain, yam, chips (fries), rice, pasta and an arepa. You can go a whole day on that kind of energy (and it can cost as little as $4,000COL).<\/p>\n

Meat<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Meat<\/a>
That’s a lot of meat, eh?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vegetarians are unfortunately a little limited in Colombia. While there’s a decent amount of vegetarian options in Bogot\u00e1, Medell\u00edn and Cartagena, as you travel around the rest of the country you’ll find it difficult to enjoy a decent vegetarian meal. For meat-lovers, however, this is a dream since meat is high quality, cheap and served with pretty much every kind of meal. Sometimes you’ll even get the more-is-more approach and find 3 different kind of meals on your plate. Dreamy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like anywhere, Colombian food ranges from the delectable to the simply efficient to the downright confusing. In England we put a fish covered in batter in a newspaper and call it a national dish. A great thing in the bigger cities such as Bogot\u00e1, Medell\u00edn and Cartagena is that there’s a huge amount of selection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[35,19,3,115,66,97,65,12],"tags":[58],"yoast_head":"\n5 Colombian Foods You Can't Avoid (Even If You Try) - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2011\/09\/5-colombian-foods-you-cant-avoid-even-if-you-try\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Colombian Foods You Can't Avoid (Even If You Try)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like anywhere, Colombian food ranges from the delectable to the simply efficient to the downright confusing. 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