Typical Food of Medellín: What to Try

The Typical Food of Medellín in a Nutshell

The typical food of Medellín is Antioquian or Paisa cuisine: beans, corn, pork, plantain, and arepa in almost every meal. It's a hearty cuisine, rooted in the diet of the muleteers who traveled Antioquia in the 19th century and needed dishes that provided energy for the entire day.

The dishes you'll most often see on a Paisa restaurant menu are:

• Bandeja paisa, the flagship dish of the region.
• Antioquian beans, the base of the bandeja and also a dish on its own.
• Paisa sancocho and mondongo soup, for lunch.
• Paisa chorizo and blood sausage, ordered as an appetizer or side dish.
• Arepa, present from breakfast to dinner.
• Mazamorra, the corn dessert-drink that concludes many lunches.

If you only have one or two days in the city, prioritize a bandeja paisa for lunch, a breakfast with arepa, and a mazamorra with panela. With that, you've tasted the essentials of the Antioquian table.

Bandeja Paisa: What's Included and How to Order It

The most common version of bandeja paisa includes ten items on the same plate: beans (especially the cargamanto variety), white rice, ground or powdered beef, pork crackling, chorizo, blood sausage, fried egg, ripe plantain slices, avocado, and arepa. Some restaurants add hogao (a tomato and onion sauce) to pour over the beans.

The current form of the dish is more recent than believed: it doesn't appear in cookbooks before 1950 and was assembled from the old Antioquian "seco". In 2005, it was even proposed as the national dish of Colombia.

Tips for ordering it:

• It's a very large dish. If you're not very hungry, ask if there's a half portion or share it.
• Order it for lunch: Paisas eat it at midday, not at night.
• Traditionally, it's accompanied by mazamorra with milk, guarapo, or a blackberry or guava juice.

Prices vary greatly depending on the location: in a market plaza, you pay much less than in a restaurant in El Poblado. Check the menu before sitting down.

Bus to the Airport with COMBUSES

If you arrive in Medellín hungry, the COMBUSES bus drops you off at San Diego or the Hotel Nutibara, next to Plaza Botero, just a few blocks from the downtown homemade food restaurants. Buy your ticket online and travel without a reservation.

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Arepas, Breakfasts, and Parva

In Medellín, arepa is eaten every day and at any time. The most typical is the arepa tela: thin, made of white corn, and almost always unsalted. It's served with butter and cheese, or with whatever is on the plate. In neighborhoods, it's still traditionally prepared with cooked and ground dry corn.

A Paisa breakfast usually includes arepa, eggs, chocolate or coffee, and sometimes beans from the previous day. A very Antioquian breakfast dish is migas: previous day's arepas soaked, crumbled, and toasted with butter or oil, often with egg. They originated as a way to avoid wasting leftover arepas and still appear on many typical food restaurant menus.

For the "algo" (afternoon snack), there's parva, the Paisa name for breads and fried corn and cassava with cheese: pandequeso, pandeyuca, and buñuelo. They're available in any bakery, freshly made, with a tinto (black coffee) or chocolate.

Supermarket arepas are a quick fix, but if you can, try them at a typical restaurant or a market plaza, where they're grilled on the spot.

Mazamorra, Natilla, and Other Paisa Sweets

The Antioquian mazamorra is hulled corn (without the husk) cooked in water for several hours until very soft. It's served in a cup or deep plate, with milk and a piece of panela, blanqueado, or bocadillo to bite between spoonfuls. The cooking liquid, called "claro", is also drunk cold as a refreshment.

In typical homes and restaurants, mazamorra is the after-lunch dessert, and in many places, it's offered alongside bandeja paisa.

Other sweets you'll find:

• Natilla with buñuelos: natilla is made with cornstarch and panela, and it's the December dessert in Antioquia, along with buñuelos.
• Arequipe with figs: figs in syrup filled or accompanied by arequipe.
• Rice pudding, in almost any homemade food restaurant.

If you travel in December, ask for natilla and buñuelos in bakeries and stores: they're sold everywhere during the holiday season.

Where to Try Typical Food in Medellín

You can eat well at a neighborhood restaurant, but these three places have a lot to offer and are easy to find:

• Plaza Minorista José María Villa (Calle 55A #57-80, near downtown): this is the city's main market. It has stalls with tropical fruits and small restaurants serving bandeja paisa and homemade food. Visit during the day and arrive by taxi or public transport; avoid walking around the area after dark.
• Mercado del Río (Calle 24 #48-28, next to the river, near El Poblado): a gastronomic market with many eateries under one roof. It's great if you're traveling in a group and everyone wants something different, from paisa cuisine to international food.
• Pueblito Paisa, at the top of Nutibara Hill: a replica of an early 20th-century Antioquian village, opened in 1978, with food and craft stalls and a wide view of the Aburrá Valley.

In the downtown area, around Plaza Botero and Parque Berrío, there are also homemade food restaurants with daily lunch specials, the most economical way to have lunch like a local. Always ask for the menu price before ordering.

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Photo: Bandeja paisa, Colombian dish.jpg — Wilfredor (CC0)