As one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, you can imagine that Colombia has a wide variety of food. It's true. The variety of food here is incredible and you never get bored eating the same things over and over. Still, there are a few classics that stand out to me that I'd love to describe here for you. I hope you get to sample some of the foods I describe. You won't regret it!
I have tried so many new foods here. I could list 100 things, but I'll stick with the most classic for this Field Note. When in Cali, you need to try cholado. It´s an icy, sweet treat that combines a bunch of different fruits with fruit syrup and sweetened condensed milk. Speaking of fruit, I´ve tried fruits here I never could have imagined. Popular fruits in Cali that I'd never eaten in the United States are guava, granadilla and chontaduro (sweet palm fruit). Granadilla is interesting because it's almost all seeds in juice. Most Colombians just drink the juice, but I like to eat the seeds. Chontaduro is interesting because, the way I had it prepared, it tasted more like a potato than a fruit! Another iconic food here is the plantain, which is in the banana family. It is prepared in countless different ways. Sweet plantain is called maduro and my favorite is eating it on pizza. I also need to tell you all about salchipapa.
