A typical greeting in Bogotá might sound something like this:
“Hey, how are you? What’s to tell? What’s up? How’s it going? What’s happening? How have you been?”
And so on, for another 10 or so lines. It’s not possible to get away with a simple “Hola, como estas?”, it just wouldn’t be Colombian.
Frijoles is like the culinary version of this. If asked to describe it, Colombians will call it “beans” or maybe “bean soup”. But really this description doesn’t cut it. Frijoles begins as a bean soup, but it’s not a complete dish until you add all the delicious accompaniments including rice, minced meat, avocado, fried plantains (patacones), fried pork belly (chicharrón), arepas and this delicious tomato and onion sauce, the name of which I’m yet to learn.
The end result is an incredibly tasty contrast of textures and flavours: beans and rice that yield to the bite, crunchy pork, smooth avocado, sweet plantains, and a touch of tang from the tomato and onion sauce.
Hola, como va? (bean soup)
Bien, como ha estado? (arepas)
Bien, bien, que hubo? (fried plantains)
Bien, bien, que cuenta? (finely minced meat)
Bien, bien, que mas? (chicharrón)
Merely half of the frijoles spread
I can’t fathom how long it must take to prepare this meal (I’m told the chicharrón alone takes two days) but I had the privilege of eating it not once, but twice in Colombia. That’s the benefit of travelling with El Princecito, better known to you, dear readers, as Latino Man. Expect many more stories of my culinary adventures in Colombia as I document the incredible spread put on by Latino Man’s family and friends in honour of our recent visit.
Many many thanks to Laura for this instance of frijoles, served to family and friends of the “Singapore Colombians”.
