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Colombian Arepa Foodways

Arepa

Specialised

⚠ NOT ONE BREAD. The arepa is nixtamalised or ground maize, formed and cooked on a griddle, in an oven, or fried — and Colombia has scores of named regional forms. AREPA PAISA: thin, white, plain, a vehicle. AREPA DE CHÓCOLO: sweet fresh corn, thick, with quesito. AREPA BOYACENSE: with cuajada and a little wheat, faintly sweet. AREPA SANTANDEREANA: with CHICHARRÓN and yuca worked into the dough, dark and rich. AREPA DE HUEVO: Caribbean, fried twice with a whole egg cooked inside. AREPA OCAÑERA, AREPA DE MAÍZ PELAO, arepuela, arepa rellena, arepa de queso. ⚠ THE MAIZE FOODWAY IS INDIGENOUS AND VERY OLD; the individual modern forms are not all of one age, and this system does not claim they are. ⚠ THE COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA ARGUMENT over the arepa is real and is recorded as a shared pre-national maize tradition with separate national developments.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

Languages: Spanish

What is recorded

  • The arepa is recorded as a category of maize breads with many named regional forms differing in maize preparation, thickness, filling and cooking method, not as a single dish. The underlying maize foodway is Indigenous and long predates both Colombia and Venezuela; the individual modern regional forms are of varying and largely undocumented age, and no claim of common age is made for them. documented
  • The Colombian and Venezuelan claims to the arepa are recorded as a dispute over a shared pre-national Indigenous maize tradition that developed differently in each country. No national origin is assigned. disputed

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Venezuelan Cuisine disputed

    ⚠ The arepa argument. Recorded as a shared pre-national Indigenous maize tradition with separate and real national developments. No origin is assigned.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

  • related to Venezuelan Arepa Foodways disputed

    ⚠ The arepa argument. A shared pre-national Indigenous maize tradition with real and separate national developments — Venezuela fills and names them, Colombia mostly does not. No origin is assigned.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.