For those who want to know more about Colombia’s gastronomy, an American couple have started a food tour in Medellin, the country’s second largest city.
The tour, set up by Jeremy Hand and Nicole Furnace, provides a unique experience which aims to inform on the local cuisine through storytelling and insightful local expertise.
Colombian food is often dealt a bad rap by travelers, especially when compared to many South American counterparts, and this tour aims to revise this reputation by hand picking top local spots indistinguishable to the foreign eye.
The tour
The “La Mesa” walking tour comprises five stops; three on Envigado’s streets for some tasting of deep-friend snacks, one in the local fruit market and finally at a restaurant for the centerpiece of the Paisa cuisine, the “Bandeja Paisa.”
The first three stops contain typical local street snacks such as empanadas, churros and arepa de choclo.
At the Envigado Plaza market, visitors can taste a bizarre odor-packed root juice, before sucking and gnawing their way through various fruits alien to the western palette.
The colossal “Bandeja Paisa,” a food unique to Medellin, completes the tour’s food.
The day finishes with a traditional splash of aguardiente, Colombia’s ubiquitous licorice liquor.
For who?
“Food is the perfect lens to understand a country’s culture, history and people. Our food tours are designed to take you on a journey through Colombian cuisine, while sharing stories about the local customs, traditions, and fascinating characters we meet along the way,” Hand told Colombia Reports.
“You want to get off the beaten path, see how people live, sit down with some locals, and just relax and take it in. Our food tours let you do just that. It’s an opportunity to experience, taste and understand Colombia,” the tour operator explained.
The La Mesa walking tour is best experienced by the traveler with a healthy appetite for local cuisine and gastronomic story telling and expats looking to settle in Colombia baffled by the array of peculiar fruits and culinary options.
The tour’s true essence and value for money lies in things beyond the food itself; education, explanation and engagement.
Sources
- Participation in tour
- La Mesa Food Tours