Venezuela
Maize, plantain and the arepa - a bread eaten three times a day and endlessly argued over.
The arepa is the centre of Venezuelan eating: a disc of ground maize, griddled until the outside crisps, split and filled with anything from shredded beef to black beans, avocado and salty white cheese. Combinations have names - reina pepiada, chicken and avocado, was supposedly created for a beauty queen - and Venezuelans and Colombians will debate ownership of the whole genre for as long as you let them.
Pabellón criollo is the plate that reads as a country on a dish: shredded beef, black beans, white rice and fried sweet plantain, the last of which turns the whole thing from savoury to something more complicated. At Christmas the hallaca appears - a maize dough parcel of beef, pork, olives, capers and raisins wrapped in plantain leaf and steamed, made in large family batches over several days.
The coast brings fish and coconut; the Andean states bring trout and warm corn bread. Venezuelan cacao is among the most sought-after in the world, particularly the rare Chuao and Porcelana beans, and the country's rum has a serious international reputation.
- arepa
- pabellón criollo
- hallaca
- cachapa
- tequeños
- quesillo
