Colombia

Bandeja paisa

A tray of beans, rice, chicharrón, chorizo, egg, avocado and arepa, for one person.

Ajiaco

Bogotá chicken and three-potato soup with guasca herb, cream and capers.

Sancocho

Big-bone broth with plantain, yuca and corn, cooked outdoors for a crowd.

Arepa

Maize cake griddled and split for cheese or butter, different in every region.

Lechona

A whole pig stuffed with rice and peas and roasted for ten hours, from Tolima.

Tamal tolimense

Rice, chicken and pork wrapped in banana leaf and boiled, eaten with chocolate.

Changua

Milk broth with a poached egg and coriander, poured over bread at breakfast.

Mote de queso

Yam and salty coastal cheese soup, soured with lemon, from the Caribbean plains.

Cazuela de mariscos

Coconut seafood stew from Cartagena, thick with shrimp, squid and fish.

Empanadas

Maize shells fried crisp around potato and meat, eaten with ají and lime.

Pandebono

Cheese and cassava starch rolls, baked to a puffed golden shell, eaten hot.

Almojábana

Soft cheese bread from the highlands, dipped into hot chocolate.

Buñuelos

Fried cheese dough balls, crisp and squeaky, made at Christmas with natilla.

Obleas

Two thin wafers pressed around arequipe and whatever else the cart offers.

Arequipe

Milk boiled down with sugar into caramel, filling everything sweet in the country.

Chocolate santafereño

Hot chocolate with a piece of white cheese dropped in to melt.

Aguapanela

Unrefined cane sugar dissolved in water with lime, drunk hot or cold.

Tinto

Small black coffee sold from thermoses on every corner, sweetened by default.

Aguardiente

Anise cane spirit poured in small shots, each region loyal to its own bottle.

Chicha

Fermented maize drink, pre-Columbian and long banned, made again in Bogotá.