I’ve most recently started my world journey exploring the foods of Colombia and have spent the last two months in Medellin Colombia. This place is one that everyone needs to see to actually believe exists. Before I start talking about the food I want to mention a little about the city and what is available here on a grand scale.
I came to Colombia for the first time a year ago to visit some friends and spend the new year. Compared to the United States they celebrate the new years much differently here. We spent the entire day at a “finca” or vacation home of a friend’s family. Needless to say there was a variety of local foods prepared by both the family and their hired help. It also helped that the family owned several restaurants in the nearby town so I was able to get an experience of a lifetime.
I arrived by plane in the late afternoon in a city called Peirera. I was shortly after picked up by friends and we took a 40 minute ride into the heart of the coffee district. The weather was warm, a nice 80 F or so, and skies were clear. Once we arrived we united with the entire family from cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents. There was probably over 20 people staying at the house for the evening. We starting munching on food and hanging out at the pool for the first part of the evening until about 6pm when the family started drinking. One of the most traditional alcoholic beverages in Colombia is something called aguardiente. Aguardiente is a clear, strong drink that tastes similar to black licorice. It is drinking in small shots the size of a thimble. Unlike the USA culture where drinking usually starts late at night and ends between 1am or 2am, here people start drinking in the evening and they are up until 4am in the morning. You wouldn’t believe my astonishment when the grandma of over 80 years was partying up until 3:30 in the morning. Rather than a short stent of heavy drinking it is more of a culture of slow consumption of alcohol for a long sustained party.
The food there was something extremely traditional. They had arepa which is a flatbread made of ground corn. It has a particularly bland flavor on its own but it is commonly combined with other foods. I personally liked to break up the arepa and stick it in a traditional soup called sancocho.
Overall I found the food quite good here in Colombia. As time continues I’ll share more of my eating and travel experiences here in this country. After experiencing the foods here I shared with our ACLS and PALS certified healthcare providers and they approved of the diet I was consuming. The healthcare providers that have their ACLS and PALS certification said that the majority of what I was eating was particularly good at keeping down my weight which is of particular importance when it comes preventing a heart attack. Thanks for reading the post and keep coming back for more.