Comida in Colombia

Here is a little taste of Colombia for your eyes to enjoy. This only scrapes the surface of all the wonderful dishes I am just beginning to explore. 

Juice/Jugo: The thing I most remembered about my first trip to Colombia and the most important thing to know in general about the delicious treats here are the juices. Colombians have fruit everywhere, some we have never heard of and some we may see as specialty items obviously grown nowhere near New England. Here they squeeze fresh juice, literally upwards of 20 options at some places, and you can order it con agua (water) or con leche (milk). Jugo con leche is this fabulous combination that is not quite a smoothie but is much creamier than regular juice.  

Mango and Mora con leche. from the local juice man. Que Rico!

Mora: This is my favorite fruit here… it’s the word for blackberry. You may be saying to yourself now don’t we have blackberries in the US? Of course we do. What you should be asking is why don’t we juice them!? Seriously its fabulous even as someone that is a convert from team raspberry. Mora is found everywhere from ice cream to candy to jello and everything in between. PS Colombians are oddly into jello here too. 

Lulo: Ok, this is actually an exotic fruit. The lulo is only grown in Colombia and the best way to describe the taste is kiwi like. It looks sort of like an orange tomato and the key is to leave them until they are extra soft before you smoosh it into delicious jugo. 

Maracuya: This translates to passion fruit but do not be confused because supposedly three different fruits all translate to passion fruit in English. Maracuya is a great partner with mango or pineapple for juice. I suppose you can eat the fruit here too but it’s much more fun in juice form. One of the great perks of working at my school is that lunch each day comes with fresh juice- today was limonada which is lime-aid not lemonade but it was scrumptious just the same. 

Getting ready to juice Maracuya!

Coconut:  I understand why I’ve never fully appreciated the coconut until now, hailing from New England doesn’t typically present itself to fresh coconut often. But here coconut is a flavor of cookies, muffins, and so much street food. It’s becoming a small addiction that I don’t plan on stopping. 

Guanabana: This is probably the most intimidating fruit I have tried to far, not because its name sounds like a muppet song (Manama!) but because it is big and spikey and green. This weekend I got the nerve to try it in frozen yogurt form (wild, I know) and was pleasantly surprised.  Now I have tried the pretty mild flavored fruit in juice and in regular eating form and I officially put it in the “yummy” column.  

That green monster next to the bananas...

Now for some more cultural flavor…

The mystery is solved.

Peto:  Oh peto. This is the name for the mysterious pitcher Emilie and I spotted on our kitchen table that seemed to have some sort of chunky milk concoction. The other day we asked Luz what this mystery involved… she told us it was Peto! A corn mixture soaked in milk that sort of tastes like you left your soggy cornflakes out overnight.  We didn’t love it, shockingly, but at least we solved the mystery!

Speaking of milk…  There are many things in Colombia that we would consider not normal or “just wrong” as compared to what we know in the US. I try to avoid these feelings as much as possible and appreciate that there are other ways to do things in the world. Milk is not exactly one of them. Here, milk is always sold in plastic bags, and it is not refrigerated. It is very strange walking down the grocery aisle and spotting the milk on shelves next to the diapers and napkins. It’s something that I can roll with here, but will be sticking to my gallon when I get back to the states. 

Yogurt: Colombians are big fans of dairy products, which as an unofficial Vermonter I can obviously appreciate. Yogurt is especially popular here. It is usually the consistency of milk and is sort of used instead of milk in things such as cereal. I think I might actually like this combo better than milk in cereal from the states. The yogurt gives the whole meal a little more flavor. (Obviously my favorite flavor of yogurt is mora.) They also have a delicious “avena” aka oatmeal drink that is very popular. It tastes like oatmeal but without chucks of oat in it. It is like a smoothie and is just sweet enough for an afternoon snack. This is something that could totally go over well in the US. Stonyfield take note!

Street food: Again this is something that the US should really appreciate more. Street food here is cheap and fast and usually amazing. Empanadas are very popular and I think I have already mentioned arepas- cornmeal cakes filled with cheese and fried. Colombians for some strange reason also really enjoy hot dogs which is one part of US culture I would have preferred to leave behind.  Oh and they also grill corn on the cob right on the street and other sorts of fruits like toasted coconut I’ve been keeping watch for. 

Typical lunch!

Typical meals: Last weekend we had a family dinner with Emilie, Luz, her sister Leonor, and Tasha who lives with Leonor. We all made arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) which is probably the most common dinner here. Don’t worry, Luz made me arroz con champinones (mushrooms)! Carbs are definitely not in short supply here. It is very typical to serve potatoes and rice in the same meal and then snack on bread after that. 

Sopa: Bogota is a big fan of soups. Probably because it is always cold and even when it’s not cold the Bogotanos will tell you it is. My favorite soup is Ajiaco which is creamy and made with lots of avocado. It can be made with or without chicken and usually also has a hunk of corn thrown in it. My least favorite soup would be chungua which is bland broth that usually has some type of animal’s unknown body part soaking in it for flavor. My friends had a bean soup with pigs’ feet the other day. I’ll stick to the avocados…

Sweets! Colombians know how to win my heart by their amazing bakery options. There is a French style bakery on my way home from school that sells Quebec quality croissants for 200 pesos (maybe 10 cents?) There is also “Salon de Onces” which translates as snack room but should really be called cake room that is so close I can see it from the window of my room. I’ve decided to become a regular there. And alas, I may have to sacrifice my beloved bagels for the year, but I have found bagel shaped bread that is stuffed with caramel-ish  arequipe that is also delicious.

Well that covers a lot for now. I am ironically writing this post as I recover from a stomach episode last night. I’ve pretty much only been eating oatmeal, toast, and bananas for the last 24 hours but I’ll get an arepa tomorrow as my designated Colombian comfort food. Hope some of you can visit and experience the culture in this way. If not, I am having Luz teach me her ways (veggie-adapted) and will sure to bring back some recipes.