Colombian Cuisine

Colombian cuisine encompasses the culinary traditions of the country's six natural regions, the Insular, Caribbean, Pacific, Andean, Orinoco and Amazonian, and represents a unique blend of Indigenous, European and Afro Caribbean influence. The Tairona of the Caribbean coast and the Muisca of the highlands were the two major Indigenous groups whose legacy survives in foods such as the arepa, whose name is thought to derive from the Chibcha word for corn, and Colombian food varies considerably by region according to local climate and available resources, producing distinct dishes such as ajiaco in Bogota, bandeja paisa in Medellin and sancocho de gallina in Cali. Cereals such as rice and maize, tubers including potato and cassava, legumes, beef, chicken, pork, goat, seafood and a wide variety of tropical fruit appear across the country's regional kitchens. Representative dishes include patacones, fried plantain, and bunuelos as appetizers, arepas, empanadas and pandebono among breads, bandeja paisa, tamales and lechona as mains, ajiaco and sancocho as soups, and natillas, bocadillo, a guava paste, and tres leches cake among desserts.