Arepas in Colombia
Arepas are a staple food in Colombia. Arepas are to Colombia as tortillas are to Mexico. Here’s a picture of a portion of the arepa shelf at the store (I couldn’t fit all the arepas in the shot).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Arepas are basically cornmeal biscuits. There are different kinds, but they all derive from corn and they’re all shaped in a patty. They taste almost like a biscuit with less moisture. Most don’t have much flavor. They’re featured in my 3 Things You Don’t Have to Eat in Bogota. However, it’s impossible to visit Colombia and not eat arepas. They’re everywhere. They’re served with street-food. Arepa with chorizo, or arepa with egg and chicharrón.
The Mick calls them “carpet underlay” and refuses to eat most kinds. The arepa played a key role in my initial cognitive dissonance after moving to Colombia from Peru. You see, I was mugged my first week here. Then I realized that Colombian food is awful compared to Peruvian. So for my first six weeks or so, I was on the verge of depression due to the crime and food, and I had no means to go back. The arepa was a major symbol of my early displeasure with Colombian cuisine. The Mick’s first impression of arepas was in Colombian prison, where he heard the word often and would tense up. The pronunciation is ahr-dehp-a; the r-d rolls together to sound like ‘rape’.
I’ve since come to enjoy arepas. When you eat something every day for months, you start to appreciate it. Some can be delicious. But in general, you don’t appreciate them until you’ve been eating them for months.
An English-language magazine in Medellin chose to name their publication The Arepa.
Arepa paisa
The most basic arepa is the paisa variety. This is the blandest, most flavorless of them all. Pure white foodstuff without any taste-bud stimulation whatsoever. Below is the worst of the worst, the paisa arepas that come with your chicken order at PPC. I never eat these. I usually leave the little bag unopened on the table so it’s not wasted but I wanted to show you the inside of these little guys.
Arepa antioqueña
-
-
-
-
-
The arepa antioqueña tastes slightly better than the arepa paisa because you can almost taste the corn. It’s like a dry biscuit, sometimes served with butter. The arepa antioqueña comes with bandeja paisa and street foods. Alone, it’s worthless. But it usually comes with something to eat with it like antioqueño / criollo sauce, which is basically stewed tomatoes with oil.
If you can’t tell the difference in the photos between this and the paisa, it’s because there’s very little difference.
Arepa boyacense
-
-
-
-
-
The boyacense variety, from Boyacá, is where arepas start to add flavor. Boyacenses are a yellowish color and they taste sweet. I’ve read there’s cheese inside but it doesn’t taste like cheese. They’re sweet almost like a muffin. The boyacense arepas are actually moist if you get them fresh. Many mornings I’ve slept late and had to get an arepa boyacense on the run for breakfast. Professionals running around holding one of these in a napkin is a common Bogota sight.
Arepa con queso
The arepa with cheese is the best, most reliable arepa out there. It’s exactly as it sounds – the paisa / antioqueña mix filled with campesino cheese. I keep these in the house for when I want to gorge myself with carbs and fat, so I don’t go out or spend too much money. I fry ‘em up in a bit of sunflower oil ($2.50 / half-liter down here). A package of 4 costs 3500 pesos, or $1.75.
Arepa de huevo
-
-
-
-
-
Arepas with egg are a street food variety. They form the patty with the arepa mix around a raw egg. Then they deep-fry it to cook both at the same time. This kind’s OK with lots of ají.
Arepa con bocadillo y queso
-
-
-
-
-
This arepa is stuffed with cheese and guayaba jelly, so it’s sweet and the sharp cheese is a contrast. I loved these for a few weeks, but eventually got burned out on the excessive grease (these are also fried).
Arepa de choclo / chocolo
-
-
-
-
-
Choclo in Spanish means yellow corn, as opposed to white corn. Yellow corn is sweet. So the bread they make from choclo is sweet like cornbread. In Peru, they serve a similar food called pastel de choclo, or corn-cake. The Peruvian variety is thicker, not in patty form, and drier. More like cornbread. The Colombian arepa de chocolo is in disc / patty / arepa form and filled with a slice of cheese. It’s a bit greasier as well. The arepa de chocolo is the only kind of arepa The Mick will eat.
There it is. You now know more about arepas than you ever cared to.
comments
3 Responses to “Arepas in Colombia”
Leave a Reply
[...] Arepas in Colombia [...]
Nice post!!! I still prefer the arepa con queso and the arepa boycense (or maiz pelao). Personally the arepa paisa for me is extremely simple. I like things with more flavour.
Ok. So last time I was in Bogota, I went to this place right next to Parque Jaime Duque – aka poor man’s Disneyland — and they had the most AMAZING arepas ever. I dont know why they were so good, but they were incredible.