I feel that the food in Colombia is often an overlooked or underappreciated aspect of this country. From the moment I stepped foot in Colombia, I have been trying foods I never tasted before. Having previously gone to Ecuador, and seeing as these countries are neighbors, I thought many of the foods would be similar. While that is partially true, I quickly found many foods that are unique. Colombian cuisine primarily utilizes native ingredients and draws from indigenous, African, Arabian and Spanish influences.
The real question to this prompt is, “What food have I not tried?”. I have made it a personal mission to eat as many different things as I can in Colombia, and even one year on, I am still finding new things to eat!
However, to start us off, the most obvious and most popular foods are los fritos! Los fritos in English is similar to saying “the fried things” and it is a long list of different foods like empanadas, patacones, deditos, and buñuelos. One of my favorites among los fritos are arepas, which are also common in Venezuela and Panama.
