Bogota Blogger

Arepas are a kind of corn-bread, sort of, fried on a stovetop generally, that come in lots of sizes, thick and thin, but only one shape–round.  They are eaten all over the country but especially in “paisa” terrority of Antioquia and the Eje Cafetera.  Lots of times they are filled with cheese, or topped with cheese or butter.  I would think of them as bread-substitutes, but Colomians don’t really see them that way, and they don’t hesitate to have both arepas and bread with a meal.

Sometimes arepas are moist inside, whether they have cheese or not, and lots of people like them this way.  I prefer the extra-thin ones that are very flat and crispy, and I guess they are less popular, because they’re a little difficult to find. In my local Carulla I can sometimes find Dona Paisa Extra-Delgado, but only on a semi-regular basis. Often at roadside restaurants, which are common in Colombia as they used to be in the US in the days before interstate highways and chain fast-food places, arepas will be standard fare, either alone or as part of a meal. I suppose arepas could be eaten cold, though I’ve always had them hot, and I’m sure they’re better that way.  Maybe arepa is a little of an acquired taste, because I didn’t really like them much when I first came to Colombia, though now I eat them whenever they’re served and make myself one at home almost every night as sort of a snack–either with cheese or butter melted on top.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 11:46 am and is filed under The Colombian Way of Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.