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If you are coming to Colombia, there are some recommended Colombian food & drinks that you should try
Even though I’m not a fan of Colombian food generally speaking, you will have to get used to it here
It definitely isn’t of the same quality as the food that you will find in other Latin American countries, such as Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Cuba or Argentina
However, if you are going to spend time in Colombia, you might as well eat some of the food here just for the experience
And if you end up dating a Colombian woman, I guarantee you that she will be cooking you some of the food from her country
So even though it’s not the best food in the world and nothing to write home about, it’s something that you just are going to have to accept if you wish to spend significant time here and date a cute Colombian girl here
Having said that, perhaps it’s then important to recognize what foods in Colombia are at least tolerable or even decent in some cases so that you know what safe foods you can resort to when you are at a Colombian restaurant or your Colombian girl wants to cook you something
Based on my experience in this country, here are 12 foods and drinks that I would recommend (drinks included because you are going to need a few beers when having to eat Colombian food):
First: Aguila Beer
Before sitting down and having to endure torture eat some of the recommended Colombian food, you are going to want a few beers with that meal. Out of all the beers there are, I usually go with Aguila Beer. It’s decent and usually a little bit cheaper than some of the other beers at any of the local stores nearby.
If you don’t like Aguila beer, don’t worry – there are other beers here also. Club Colombia is another beer that is my second favorite after Aguila.
Second: Salchipapa
Though salchipapa exists in other countries, it can be easily found in Colombia.
Basically it is a type of street food that consists of a mixture of thin beef sausages, French fries and coleslaw. At the same time, numerous restaurants down here will have options to include more food to it such as chicken.
It might not sound great but it is pretty tasty and is a recommended Colombian food that I encourage people to try
Third: Empanadas
This is another type of food that is found across Latin America and it is basically just a fried or baked pastry that usually comes with some meat filling inside it.
The thing about empanadas in Colombia is that most of them do not taste that great after you have tried empanadas in Argentina. However, there are some restaurants that offer good empanadas. Basic thing I would recommend is to avoid empanadas on the street as they tend to be worse.
The ones in restaurants are usually made decent enough — which is why I have it as a recommended Colombian food to try here
Fourth: Arepas
The arepa is a food that is very popular in both Colombia and Venezuela. In fact, there is to some degree a little rivalry between the two countries over who has the best arepa.
Having been to both countries, I’d say Colombia
It basically consists of ground maize dough and is filled with different ingredients like chicken or meat for example
Outside of salchipapa, this is my second favorite food to eat in Colombia. Similar to the salchipapa, the arepa is made very nicely.
Fifth: Coffee from the Juan Caldez Café
I’m not usually a fan of coffee because I don’t like how bitter it can be
However, the coffee that you can get at the Juan Valdez Café, which is a very popular Colombian café across the country, is great
So for both coffee lovers and people who don’t like coffee, I’d recommend trying the coffee here
If you are going on a date with a cute Colombian girl for example, this is also a good place to take someone in my opinion
Sixth: Aji Picante
Given that I love Mexican food, how could I not recommend something that is a little bit more spicy?
Especially since so much of Colombian food is not spicy at all, it’s a nice to have something spicy here for once
And the aji picante fortunately gives us just that – it is a salsa that consists of specifically water, onions, tomatoes, aji pepper and coriander.
Seventh: Arroz de Lisa
Given that I have spent quite a bit of time in Barranquilla, how could I not recommend this also?
Granted, I don’t like eating fish much but I can make an exception for this dish
It’s one of my other favorite dishes in Colombia and basically consists of fish, onions, vegetables, aji and coconut rice. If youstop by Barranquilla anytime, which I recommend you do, then you should try this dish when you are there.
Eighth: Aguardiente
Known as Colombia’s national liquor, aguardiente is necessary for any party among friends that you may have
It is an anise-flavored liquor with distilled sugar cane. I’d recommend it whenever you are in Colombia.
If you intend to make a drink with it, I’d recommend you make the drink known as the Aguardiente Sour. It is a Colombian cocktail made of orange juice, aguardiente, lime juice, sugar and egg whites.
Ninth: Bendeja Paisa
This is another traditional dish from Colombia that is a bit more widely known. It’s not my favorite on this list but it’s not bad either and it fills you up better as well.
So if you haven’t eaten all day and need something big, this will do it. This dish includes the following ingredients: white rice, red beans, chorizo, pork crackling, morcilla, fried plantain, fresh avocado, ground beef and an arepa.
As I said, it’s great for when you are hungry!
Especially with a few good aguila beers
Tenth: Aborrajado
After you have a big dish like the bandeja paisa, why not try something sweet?
The aborrajado is a sweet dish that is basically a deep fried plantain that has cheese and guava paste in it. If this sounds nice to you, you can often find it served more commonly in the Colombian city of Cali since that is where it is more popular.
Eleventh: Pandebono
During my years living in Barranquilla, there was this restaurant I went to that often served pandebono. Even though this food originated from Valle del Cauca in Colombia, it was easy to find in Barranquilla also.
If the aborrajado does not sound interesting, the pandebono can also serve as something nice to eat before a bigger meal. It’s basically a type of bread made out of cheese, yuca starch, egg and corn flour.
Twelfth: Fritanga
This is another dish in Colombia that I love quite a bit as it has quite a bit of meat in it.
Anything with lots of meat sounds good to me
It basically consists of pork cracklings, pork, beef, sausage and chicken when it comes to meet and then also it has arepas, corn and plantain.
Overall
Of course, if none of these foods sound interesting to you, then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about since there are also plenty of great restaurants in Colombia that serve other types of food
Just check out my city guides in this website where you can find details on specific restaurants that I recommend for each city that I have a guide on
Either way, you can enjoy some of the delicious food on this list or some of the amazing restaurants that Colombia has to offer
And if you are curious to learn more about Colombian culture, check out this great book on Colombian culture and this amazing travel guide to Colombia
If you have any questions or insight, let me know below in the comment section. Thanks and take care!
Hasta luego parceros,
Seth
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