Feeding ourselves is vital for a purely biological reason. Eating is a pleasure and something we should do to enjoy it, despite some of the perversions we’ve seen on social networks lately. Likewise, this is a way of sharing. Gastronomy has played a fundamental role in transmitting the culture of every society, as a manifestation of its history and traditions. I dare say, in all countries, sharing food (except Sweden) and this is certainly something that applies to countries like Spain or Latin America as a whole.

In fact, the gastronomy of both regions enriched each other, and at a recent conference held by the National Institute of Anthropology and History we can see how the arrival of the Spanish in the Americas affected the diet of the region’s inhabitants. , this is Colombia right now.

Area. Blanca Ysabel Daza Martínez was responsible for delivering the lecture exploring this relationship between regions, and the researcher applied a historical and anthropological methodology for the research, based on consultations with archives, libraries and fieldwork. It covered 15 routes to delve deeper into local food traditions and see how the same dish can vary from one region to another.

literal corn. An interesting point to highlight is that corn was an important food in the Colombian diet before the arrival of the Spanish and continued to be so thereafter. This is something that is also seen, for example, in Mexico, where remains of offerings to the maize god were recently discovered.

Daza Martínez commented, “Typical foods changed or diversified after the arrival of the Spaniards, but they continue to be consumed.” Chicha refers to dishes such as sancocho, ajiaco, beans, cuchuco or tripe.

Spanish contributions. But the arrival of the Spanish meant that they brought foods that had come from the old continent or other regions but had been brought by the colonists. An example is asparagus, but also sugarcane, olives and chestnuts. But more important was the arrival of non-endemic animals such as cows and pigs.

An example of typical Colombian dishes that have changed in one way or another or were created after the arrival of new ingredients. Picture | INAH speech

And the resulting dishes. The arrival of these elements “led to the emergence of a variety of typical dishes today, such as tamales, stuffed arepas, chorizo, blood sausage or chicharrones,” says Daza Martínez. This was quite a cultural shift and led not only to the creation of some of the most famous dishes from many regions of Latin America, but also to new stews that came about thanks to the mixture of ingredients from colonists and natives.

There are several examples; piglet is one of them. It is a stew made with pork stuffed with onions, potatoes, fresh herbs and spices, not consumed anywhere in Spain or Europe, so it is a 100% typical dish of the region, made thanks to this culinary mixture.

gastronomic richness. Of course, preparations such as tamales or arepas were already available in pre-Columbian times, but with the advent of beef and pork it was assumed that these dishes would now be filled with new ingredients. And in turn, the arepa made its way to Spain, with a strong presence in the Canary Islands.

Moreover, on this trip to the Colombian regions, the way many traditional dishes are prepared varies depending on the region. After all, as we said, this mixture of ingredients allowed the culture to flourish and helped give Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia, among others, enviable cuisines. You can see Ysabel’s lecture at this link, because it is extremely interesting.

Picture | Maor

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