Enjoy our typical Colombian food

The biological and cultural riches of Colombia are symbiotically interrelated and have the same genesis, its challenging geography. In our amazing territory three branches of the Cordillera de los Andes converge, coasts on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; and, the Amazon and Orinoco basins.

All of the above, not to mention the Magdalena basin; that, according to the Colombian-Canadian sociologist Wade Davis, it is as important for the country as the Mississippi is for the United States, because “it is both a trade corridor and a source of culture; a source of Colombian music, literature, poetry and prayer”.

According to the World Wildlife Foundation we have 85 major types of ecosystems, of which 34 are terrestrial, 16 freshwater and 35 coastal marine; 30 large rivers, more than 1,200 lagoons and 1,000 swamps; and, 49% of the paramos of South America. All this makes Colombia a food pantry where 26 million hectares (of a total 114 million) have potential for agricultural production, even though not even half is used.

A country in which, according to the Colombian Fruits Initiative, there are more than 2,100 species of fruits between native and introduced. However, due to the ignorance of many regional gastronomic products and customs; or, due to the logistical difficulties of its geography, it is also the place where 34% of the total food produced is wasted.

The sweaty mountaineer, a Quindian dish originally used to transport food to the mountains and whose preparation technique comes from Italian and Spanish stews; the tamale, a dish of Mexican origin of which there are more than 1,500 versions in Colombia and which is consumed under different names throughout Latin America and the Philippines; fish salpicón, a Caribbean preparation that descends from the Spanish salpicón (salty-chopped) of the Middle Ages; the fritanga, a true forerunner of national fast food, which fuses American and Asian vegetable products with Spanish charcuterie traditions (blood sausage, chorizo, etc.); the suckling pig, which is a legacy of the Castilian roast and which owes its origin to the Roman adobe oven; pork loin in tamarind sauce, a Cartagena dish that evolved from the Chinese sweet and sour pork loin from the 18th century; the “mamona”, which is a plain preparation that arises as a result of the coronation of a European emperor in the 16th century; the ajiaco, which starts from a Chibcha stew of potatoes and corn to which chicken, milk cream and capers were added in the colony; or, the rib broth, a dish that is consumed at breakfast of English origin, which was only integrated into our gastronomy at the end of the 19th century.

We prepare these and many more dishes on a daily basis, always highlighting the origin of its ingredients and history.

Taking advantage of the great biological richness, our bakery-confectionery makes arazá pie, sapote pudding, shot pavlova, mamey tarts, avocado, sour guava, biche mango, rose apple, strawberry tree, carambola, caimo, Amazon sugar apple, soursop, green papaya, loquat and many other seasonal desserts.

We prepare the "coulant au chocolat" with chocolate from the tree to the Arauquita 70% bar (the best cocoa in the world) refined at home. Making chocolate fondue from the tree is an unforgettable experience for our visitors. Breakfasts, in addition to a selection of Colombian cheeses and jams made with fruits from our garden, are always accompanied by freshly baked Colombian pastries such as: almojábana (means cheese or has cheese in Arabic – al-muyabbana -), a version of this bun appears in Libre de Coch, by Rupert de Noia, one of the oldest cookbooks in Europe (Barcelona, 1520); yucca bread, a product that fuses the Amazonian cassava with European cheese; and, the pandebono, a dough that is made with a mixture of cheeses and starches that is said to have been invented in the 19th century by Doña Genoveva Reza de Montoya, cook matron of the "Hacienda El Bono", in the Vereda El Limonar of the Municipality of Dagua in Valle del Cauca, hence its name "pan del bono".