How are you, my dear Read.cash readers? I hope you are having a great weekend. I'm going to talk about one of the most well-known typical Venezuelan foods, the arepas. But I won't talk about just any arepa. I'm going to tell you which is the queen of the arepas.
Some of you may not know what arepas are. But they are a Venezuelan food made with cornflour. Their origin dates back to pre-Columbian times, and their place of origin has been in dispute for years because Colombians claim to be their creators, and even at some point, Mexicans have claimed them as their own. But the truth is that although the origin is not very clear, we don't know if the arepa is Colombian or Venezuelan. There is no doubt that among the arepas, the Queen is ours.
One of the things that differ in Venezuela and Colombia is the filling with which the arepas are usually eaten. In Venezuela, arepas are eaten with every kind of filling, cheese, shredded beef, pork, chicken, fish, egg, and anything else you can think of. For example, I love to combine arepas with cheese and avocado. Like this one in the picture Arepa with Guayanes cheese and Avocado, I posted in Noise a while ago.
The Queen is ours - La Reina Pepiada
And yes, I love avocado on the arepa. And for me, the only one that can beat the arepa in the photo, it's the Reina Pepiada (Pepiada Queen).
A Reina Pepiada is an arepa stuffed with a chicken salad with avocado. And as some of you may know, last weekend, I bought the bargain of 7 avocados for a dollar. So one of the things I made during the week was Reinas Pepiadas.
To make them, you only need shredded chicken, avocado, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. And I like to add a touch of balsamic vinegar. Many people also add a little coriander and finely chopped onion, but I like the simple and original recipe.
Now you will wonder about the so curious name, Reina Pepiada. Here, a long time ago, curvy women were usually said to be pepiadas. And this arepa bears its name in honor of the first Miss World Venezuela had in 1955, named Susana Duijm.
Some background - Venezuela land of Beauty Queens
Maybe some of you know that one of the things that Venezuela is known for in the world is for being a country of beauty queens. Venezuelans pride themselves on having the highest number of international titles in beauty pageants. We're the second country in the number of Miss Universe crowns, surpassed by the US. And we are the only country to have achieved a back-to-back in the Miss Universe. In 2009, our Miss Universe crowned another Venezuelan candidate.
A former Venezuelan Miss Universe was a presidential candidate and mayor of one of the richest municipalities in the capital. Many Venezuelan girls dream of someday being beauty queens. Venezuela was a factory of beauty contestants. And I say it was since in recent years the economic crisis has beaten the beauty industry also. But all this comes to tell you that all this fury seemed to have its starting point when Susana Duijm won Miss World in 1955.
The Story of the Reina Pepiada
In 1955, there was a very popular arepera in Caracas, run by some brothers named Alvarez. Caracas artists and intellectuals used to go to the arepera of the Alvarez brothers. The tostadas, as they used to call their arepas, were famous in the city.
When Susana Duijm was crowned Miss World, the brothers decided to dress like a beauty queen, one of their nieces a 12 year old girl. The girl was seated on a small platform in the arepera so that everyone who entered could see the tribute to the Beauty Queen. Those days, a man entered the arepera and asked why they had the girl sitting and exhibited in that way. To which they replied that it was in tribute to Suasana Duijm, the Miss World. The man told them that Susana was his daughter. And that he would go with her to the arepera in a few days. Indeed, he showed up with Susana a few days later. They asked to eat one of the house specialties, an arepa with chicken, avocado, mayonnaise, and that one also had petitpois. That day they baptized the arepa Reina Pepiada in honor of Susana Duijm.
Nowadays, due to the huge migration of Venezuelans. It's easy to find in different parts of the world a spot of Venezuelan food. And if they have arepas, which is most likely. It's also very likely, they should have the Reina Pepiada, our queen, on their menu.
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Images credits on the caption.
Until next time. :)
July 24, 2021
Excellent article that whets the appetite seasoned with excellent anecdotal writing.
I really like the arepa with cheese, but as you say, the pepiadas queens, in addition to being tasty, are distinctive of our region.
Thank you for sharing part of our customs with the read.cash community.