Colombian Cuisine
You will be shocked at how well you eat in Colombia. As one of our followers said, “Their cuisine is criminally underrated.” The food is fantastic, although there are some quirks to Colombian cuisine that may also surprise you. Like soup for breakfast! And the amount of cheese in or on everything! They even put cheese in their hot chocolate! (It’s the best mix of sweet and savory!)
When you visit Colombia, these are some of the foods you should try or expect to see often. Of course, the food will also vary by region, so no matter where you are in Colombia, there will be new and delicious foods to try. Naturally, you will have delicious seafood along the coast, while the mountains and inland areas will have more meat-based dishes. Try them all!
The amount of delicious and exotic fruit in Colombia is shocking. You’ll enjoy juices from fruits you’ve never heard of! Lulo juice is a must-try. It looks like an orange, but the juice is green. If you love fruit, you’ll be in heaven in Colombia!
It’s also shocking how many varieties of potato you can eat in one meal. Almost every entree comes with potatoes or already has potatoes in it. You might be served potatoes and French Fries in one meal!
If you are near Cartagena along the coast, the seafood is fantastic, including the ceviche. A huge fried fish with a side of coconut rice is one of the best meals you will have. You will dream about the coconut rice when you get home! If you are in the mountains, you should also try the trout.
Arepas are like a thick corn tortilla, often served with cheese inside, which is Arepa de Queso. Some are thinner and melted together, while others are thick and sliced in the middle for a sandwich, similar to pita bread.
If you love avocados, you’ll love Colombian cuisine as they are served as a side with almost every meal. You might even have grilled avocados if you are invited to a barbeque at someone’s house.
Colombians love soup (Caldo), even for breakfast! A few soups you might see in Colombia include:
- Ajiaco is a chicken and potato soup that is especially popular in Bogota
- Sancocho is another potato soup, usually served with meat but in Cartagena you can often get it with fish.
- Cazuela de Mariscos is a thicker stew made with seafood. It’s one of Mark’s favorite things to eat in Colombia.
- Changua is a very popular breakfast soup with eggs and toast.
Tamales are popular as well, especially at breakfast. The tamales in Colombia are much bigger than the traditional Mexican tamales, which are called Envuelto.
Patacones are like a potato chip made from plantains. Sometimes it comes in a larger form as a main dish and other times, the smaller ones are served plain as a side dish.
Fritanga is a great thing to order when sharing with a group. It’s just a bunch of meats grilled together. You can order smaller portions, and it’s often sold on the street where you can try a sample. Some of them do include some more exotic meat, like intestines.
Empanadas are popular in Colombia and most of South America. There are sweet and savory versions, and we love them all.
Colombian buñuelos are different from Mexican buñuelos. In Colombia, they are like little round cheese donuts. It’s a fun snack to buy from a street vendor.
Obleas was one of our favorite street foods in Colombia. It’s a couple of round wafers with caramel or fruit in the middle. It looks like a big stroopwafel if you’ve had those.
Chocolate in Colombia is delicious, including the hot chocolate. If you’re looking for a gift to take home with you, chocolate is an excellent choice.
Service is a bit slow in Colombia, so it does take a while to get your food and drinks, but it’s totally worth the wait! If the bill shows “propina” that means the tip is already included, which is pretty common in Colombia.
Colombian Beverages
We loved the food in Colombia and the drinks were also shockingly delicious! From cocktails to fruit juices, these are some of the drinks to try when you visit Colombia. (When it’s time to drink water, the tap water in the larger cities is fine to drink.)
We already mentioned the amazing variety of fruit in Colombia, and the juices made from that fruit. But it bears mentioning again, because the diversity of juices was our favorite surprise in Colombia. Lulo and Lulada from the Lulo fruit were two of our favorite juices. Limonada, or limeade, is another favorite juice in Colombia. Add some coconut and you have limonada con coco, which is simply delicious.
The coffee in Colombia (tinto) was shockingly underwhelming, given that coffee beans are grown here! Beans are exported and processed elsewhere, so the variations of coffee that we love tend to happen after the beans leave Colombia.
Chocolate con Queso is the hot chocolate with cheese that we mentioned previously. The hot chocolate alone is really good, but you should try the cheese. It sounds weird, but it’s so good.
Cholao is a bunch of chopped up fruit, like a fruit cocktail, with condensed milk added. Liam had one with ice cream, too. It’s very sweet, so it’s kind of a dessert/drink. Avena Colombiana is another sweet non-alcoholic drink to try for dessert. It’s kind of an oatmeal shake, and it’s sweetened with cinnamon, sugar, and cloves.
You can get the big soda brands here, but you should also try the Colombian sodas. Colombiana and Postobon are two popular types of soda you’ll see in Colombia. Colombiana is a more herbal flavor that’s good in a cocktail, while Postobon comes in many fruity flavors.
Aguardiente is the local spirit of Colombia. If you are offered a shot, you can’t turn it down. It’s pretty strong, but it’s pretty good when you mix it. If you order a Refajo, it’s a mix of Colombiana soda, beer, and aguardiente. It’s a good drink to share because it’s a lot to drink! At Christmas, they mix aguardiente with hot water and sugarcane to make Canelazo.
Sabajon is another Christmas drink that’s like a Colombian eggnog. It’s very rich and sweet, but worth trying if you visit over the holidays.
Of course, being in the Caribbean, rum is also very popular here, and you’ll find some local brands to try if you want. Panela is the sugarcane that grows here, and they make a lot of drinks with the sugarcane besides rum. Agua de Panela is basically sugarcane water, and it’s served both hot and cold.
I always like to try the local beer as well. Two brands we saw the most frequently are Club Colombia and Aguila. Poker is another brand we tried in Bogota. A very local version of beer is Chicha, which is made from fermented corn. They add a bunch of fruits and it’s super tasty.