How many of you love to eat? I know there’s a lot of you out there that have a friend or know someone that’s Colombian and one of the main things that foreigners love about our culture is our gastronomy, which has been placed on the map by Anthony Bourdain in his episode “No reservations” in 2013 and if you haven’t watched it, I recommend that you do because besides the main focus which is food it gives you a highlight of the changes our country has faced and how locals are willing to keep changing our country’s negative perspective before the eyes of the world.
One of the main things human beings enjoy is eating and definitely trying on new things to satisfy their tastes. Colombia being a diverse country can offer you a wide variety of typical dishes that go from seafood, red/white meats and a lot of traditional local ingredients to top it off with including exotic fruits. In this post I want to focus on one of the best and most delicious plates that represent our culture gastronomically speaking and if you haven’t tried it don’t doubt looking for the nearest Colombian restaurant near your town. La Bandeja Paisa if it’s not the main dish that represents our culture, it’s one of the most popular plates that we have been raised with throughout the evolution of our times. “Paisa” is a slang term used to refer to the people of Medellin and the Coffee Cultural landscape which derives from the word “paisano” or “paisan” which means brother or fellow. The servings are very big because like my grandfather used to say “a worker that doesn’t eat right, won’t do his job right” and they needed energy to make it through the day with its hard labor on the coffee fields.
So here is a short list of its ingredients:
Riice, red beans, grounded meat, ripen plantain, avocado, fried Egg, chicharron (pork rind), chorizo, arepa (corncake) grilled beef or pork and black pudding (In certain regions of Colombia these ingredients are additional to the orginal recipe)
Hard working coffee picker at my father's farm.
If you don't have a Colombian restaurant near you, here's a simple recipe.
http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/paisa-tray-bandeja-paisa
Also here's Anthony Bourdain's episode in Colombia!
Enjoy!
#craigrant