Colombian Foods

From top to bottom:
1) Pollo- flavored chips. They actually taste just like chicken. Dislike.
2) Tamales Tolimenses
3) Fancy chicken in a sauce with rice.
4) The fruit lulo
5) The ingredients used to make the dessert oblea.
6) An oblea. #noms
7) Tilapia Frita.
8) My new favorite ice cream! It is homemade, the different flavors are different fruits, and it comes on a stick. I got maracuyá, Molly--the other Fulbright ETA in Cali-- got maní (peanut), Angie--my new Colombian friend-- got piña (pineapple), and David (an American teaching English at La Santiago for a month) got coco (coconut).
9) Champús: a very popular drink in Cali made from lulo, maize, and pineapple. It is sweetened with panela (unrefined whole cane sugar) and seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, and orange tree leaves.
10) The fruit granadilla/maracuya/passion fruit.
11) Papas Rellenas.
12) The inside of passion fruit.
13) Colombian empanadas.

Mini Attempt At A Food Blog

While Colombia isn’t particularly known for its food, I have found new foods I really like and I LOVE the fruit selection! Food varies based on what region you’re in, but no matter where you are the abundance of fresh fruit (most of which I’ve never heard of before) is overwhelming, in a good way. As I mentioned in my list of “Things I Now Know,” there are 150 types of fruits in Colombia. Literally everyday I am discovering a new fruit I didn’t know existed.

Lunch is the big meal of the deal here. It consists of a soup as the appetizer and then a meat option, rice, beans/French fries, and salad as the main dish. Best part: the entire meal (called Almuerzo Corrientes or Almuerzo Ejecutivo) is a set price of 5,000 pesos, which is $2.50 USD. Although dessert isn’t included, I’m usually too stuffed to want one anyway….that of course doesn’t stop me from finding a sweet snack later on in the day. The average temperature in Cali is 75˚ F, so ice cream and cholados (the Colombian version of a snow cone) are VERY popular. Why restrain myself when ice cream costs the equivalent of 50 cents....

Some of the typical foods:

-->Granadilla: also known as maracuyá or passion fruit

-->Papas rellenas: a ball of rice, potatoes, and ground beef that is then fried

-->Tamales: cooked corn dough filled with meat, chicken and vegetable wrapped in banana leaves; the one pictured above is Tolimenses: filled with chicken, pork, rice, potatoes, carrots, peas and spices

-->Empanadas: a savory stuffed pastry that is fried in Colombia instead of baked like the ones in Argentina; the Colombian empanadas are filled with beef or chicken, rice or potatoes, and/or cheese, and coriander.

-->Arepas: the basic side to any Colombian meal; it is a bread made from cornmeal and looks like a thick pancake....hit or miss in my book. Eaten plain, it is wayyy too starchy and bland for my liking. Definitely tastes better when served with additional ingredients like corn and cheese or mushrooms and cheese.

-->Obleas: a dessert that is two round wafers with arequipe (same as dulce de leche or caramel), cheese, condensed milk, and blackberry sauce in between. I know it sounds weird, but it’s surprisingly good.