The best of the Venezuelan gastronomy: la arepa

La arepa is cooked corn dough; you can cook it with butter, oil or fat and this is what gives the inexplicable flavor to the arepa. This dish is part of Venezuelan idiosyncrasy, is the most important symbol after the flag. But where does it come from? And how come it’s so important to Venezuelans?

The history of la arepa:

Galeotto Cei gave the oldest reference of the word arepa in his travel and descriptions of America (1539-1553):

“They make some kind of bread out of corn, its tortilla like, about a finger thick, round and big like a French plate, more or les. They used to cook it putting them on a pan over the fire and they spread it with oil so it wouldn’t get stuck, finally they would turn it around until it was well cooked on both sides. This is what people call arepas and some call them fecteguas.”

Some legends express that la arepa was the name given to the clay pan in which the original corn dough was cooked, others say that the word “arepa” comes from the cumagoto-language of the Amerindians, ethnic part of the Caribes that are originally from the province of Cumaná in Venezuela. Their decedents live north from Anzoteguí state in Venezuela, in their language the word arepa means corn, the main ingredient of la arepa.

La arepa depending on the region has different ways of being cooked:

Roasted: The dough is cooked in a special pan called budare. In big restaurants they usually use a big griddle in order to cook more arepas in less time. It’s worth pointing out that in Margarita people usually rub the budare with shark grease before putting the corn dough in it so the arepa gets a perfect form, better taste and better color.

Baked: The corn dough is put inside a home hoven or a wood one, this way is easier to fill it up.

Boiled: It’s cooked in boiling water for several minutes until it starts to compact.  Usually these come in an oval form and are called bollitos. This bollitos shouldn’t get confused with hallaquitas, the difference between them is that hallaquitas have a wrapping made out of banana’s tree leaves and bollito doesn’t.

Fried: The dough is put in boiling oil inside a pan until it gets a gold finish. A homemade trick is that before you put the arepa in the pan you make a little hole in the middle of the arepa.

The variety of stuffing you can put inside of the arepa are unbeatable, our next post will be dedicated to the fillings you can put inside of the arepa… Exquisite!