South American Cuisine: A Taste of Venezuela

Are you ready to get a taste of my favorite place in the world? So many people I’ve talked to assume that all food south of the US is spicy, soggy and gross. And to that I say poppycock! If you want gross Mexican food, go to a seedy Tex Mex grill ran by white kids. If you want authentic Mexican food go to Mexico.  Because you won’t find either in our neck of the woods! (Get this, not all Hispanic people are Mexican!)

I want to start off by introducing you to a one-of-a-kind, completely authentic and original piece of Venezuela. I’m talking about their national dish, the Arepa (ah-rey-puh), a type of sandwich that is so versatile you can literally have one for every occasion and every meal of the day. Not to mention, a hell of a lot healthier than normal sandwiches. So much so that doctors there actually recommend substituting arepas for sandwiches because of their low calorie and fat count. Awesome, no?

First you start with some brand name Pan arepa dough mix, which is basically a corn meal/flour. Add some salt to some water and mix it in until it becomes thick like regular dough. Form this into a ball with the palm of your hand and then flatten it into a disc shape. It can be super thin and really wide, or thicker and smaller, or even little minis (so cute!). They can be grilled, fried, baked, steamed, boil the dough and make bollitos with butter etc, but I prefer to put some oil in a big skillet (or a baking stone if you have one) and cook them right on the stove top. When one side of the arepa gets hard and browned a bit, it’s time to flip it and cook the other side. Depending on your heat, size and thickness of your dough, it could take anywhere from 20-30 minutes. If you want to, you can pick up an arepa maker (similar to a pancake maker) and make less than decent arepas in half the time. My advice? Go traditional! 

Now you’ll want to get the heart of your arepa ready while it cooks. What is it for? If you’re going for breakfast, do yourself a favor and mix up some eggs and cheese and meats like bacon, ham or sausage. If you’re going for lunch you can get some sandwich fixin’s like ham, turkey, roast beef, chicken, corned beef, even spam and your favorite cheese and condiments. If you’re making dinner, you can always make some seasoned pulled chicken, pork, or beef with savory vegetables and sauces which you’ll no doubt be licking off your fingers. Did I mention there is such a thing as dessert arepas?

Mmmmm

Don’t forget your cup of coffee…Venezuela has THE BEST coffee. They say Colombia has the best coffee…but they’re wrong. I am not a coffee person in the least, but after tasting the sweet, nutty, rich and full flavor of the Venezuelan coffee bean I’ve never looked back. If you want the best coffee in the world, get your hands on some authentic Venezuelan brand coffee. But be warned…everything else will taste like shit afterwards.

The best.

Another one of my favorite things to eat in Venezuela is the almighty cachapa. A deliciously griddled corn pancake which is traditionally served with queso de mano (cheese made by hand) is a compliment to any dish or a dish all on its own at any meal of the day. If you get the chance, look up a cachapa recipe online and try it yourself. Make sure the corn is fresh for best results.

After a long day of enjoying traditional favorites, why not kick back with your buddies, enjoy a Polar (for the beer lovers) and gobble down some empanadas, tequeños, and pastelitos? Tequeños are like fried cheese sticks 2.0, and pastelitos (literally, little pie) are like pierogies but vary in size and are made with a different dough and fried. Empanadas are similar, often made with either a corn or regular kind of dough…and filled with amazing deliciousness and just dripping with essence of heaven. Yes, they’re that good.

So if you’re down that way, give me a holler and let me know how your experience was. Or I can give you some authentic family recipes that the internet just can’t provide ;)

Stay strong and love on!

Being an Outsider: La Gringa

Everyone feels like an outsider at some point in their life; grade school, college, work, special events, clubs, parties, etc. Any time when you’re thrown into an environment you’re not used to with people you don’t know can be very awkward, especially if you’re “different.”  For me, I was (and still kind of am) a white American girl tossed into a world of Spanish and dark skinned sexy people. Did I mention I can’t really speak Spanish?

Being “La Gringa” is one hell of an adventure, let me tell you that. From the stares of amazement from children, general looks from adults, a completely different way of living and a 100% language barrier, I really felt like a fish out of water the first time I went to Venezuela to be with my fiancé (boyfriend at the time). Sometimes, not only did I feel like a fish out of water, I felt like a fish on a damn grill.

In Venezuela (and other Hispanic countries), homes are most certainly different than what we in the US are used to. Most homes in suburban and residential areas near the city consist of mostly no carpet, open to the outside, made of concrete, fenced in, surrounded by barbed wire or electric fence, pad locked, minimal lawn size with gates everywhere. I kind of knew they would be different from seeing homes in California and Florida but they just don’t compare. To be completely honest, the first thing I thought when I saw everything was “Wow, it looks like a prison.”

VS

These are, of course, the typical moderately wealthy type of homes. Then you have these:

I’ll save that topic for another post…some day.

 Not only are the homes different, so is the food (duh). When I bring the topic up to a lot of people, their minds automatically go to Mexican and they ask “All their food is spicy isn’t it??” No. No, no, no, a thousand times no. It’s delicious and full of flavor and nothing at all compared to the Tex-Mex Americans are used to. In fact, it is very difficult to find a good Tex-Mex place! The remotely familiar food service they had that reminded me of home was pizza, and even so it is about a hundred times better than anything here. More on Venezuelan cuisine later.

On to the language barrier, which sucks. I took 2 years of Spanish in high school and tried my damndest with Rosetta Stone but the first time I went to South America I was just shit out of luck. Could barely speak a word or understand anything, which is particularly hard when your love’s family doesn’t speak English. It’s also hard when hardly anyone in the country speaks English. Suddenly, it’s like being shut off from the rest of your surroundings. You have absolutely no clue what is going on, what anyone is saying, why people are laughing, why they’re shouting…nothing. Everything is a damn blur and even though you’re surrounded by people and family and your SO…you’re alone. Even in your own home. You’re alone and completely helpless and have to rely on someone else to do your talking for you. It just really sucks.

And as if not being able to talk doesn’t single you out enough, being white as hell with light brown straight hair in a world full of tanned people with dark features will surely do it. I’ll never forget using the restroom at a mall and seeing this little girl staring at me in awe as I washed my hands. Or having a gay guy from a salon rave about my beautiful blonde hair. Me, blonde! Ha!

I guess through the years I’ve learned how to blend in. I know my way around the place, can understand quite a lot of Spanish, know how to act, walk, and dress like a Venezuelan woman. By the end of my last visit, I really felt like I finally fit in (somewhat)…only to have to be thrown back into this dump of a society and do it all over again. I mean, I didn’t get stares anymore and I had a gist of what was going on, people even talked to me like I could understand them…and I could! And now it’s over for the moment.

Being different is really hard, especially in a place where being different is just asking for trouble. But I found my niche and grew to be comfortable in my surroundings and the people I was with. In a way, I think everyone should experience something similar…it makes you realize just how easily your whole world could flip upside down and how you need to be ready to go through it and survive.

Stay strong and love on!