The Versatile Venezuelan Arepas.  

People say that in Venezuela when a child is born, he or she comes with an arepa under his/her arm. It is a popular saying that refers to the popularity of the arepa as a Venezuelan food. It is consumed all over the country.

To comment on the arepa I have to tell the readers of read.cash, who are from distant lands and have no idea, I apologize if I am wrong, what the arepa is. I will give you a brief description of the Venezuelan's daily bread.

The arepa is a food, dish, made of ground corn dough, or precooked corn flour dough, being the easiest to make because we do not have to grind corn. The dough is separated into small portions, no bigger than the size of a fist. Between the two hands it is turned and flattened until a circular shape is obtained. The thickness of the circular dough depends on the person's taste, I like them thin, with little dough inside. It can be cooked in a large frying pan or on a griddle, which must be large enough to accommodate several flattened doughs. In my house, I have a rectangular griddle where you can turn on two burners on the stove and make several arepas at the same time.

They are prepared roasted, fried, baked, but the most popular is the grilled one, which here in Venezuela we call aripo (other parts of the country call it "budare"). In every house in my country, there must be an aripo, if there is no aripo, they are not Venezuelan... hahaha.

Venezuelans are used to eating arepa almost every day. It is an ideal companion at lunch if the menu is a soup or sancocho. For breakfast or dinner, it has to be stuffed. And here it depends on your taste because there is a variety of fillings, some people spread butter all over the inside of the arepa before putting the filling. I love an arepa with butter.  Sometimes, depending on the craving, I just eat it with a lot of butter.

The one I had for dinner yesterday had a tasty stew made with ground beef and potatoes chopped in small squares. Very tasty arepa. There is a variety of fillings: with a variety of cheeses, ham, pork rinds, ground or shredded meat, chicken salad, sausage. The Venezuelan's imagination is infinite when it comes to filling an arepa and it is always a delight to the palate.  

Depending on the filling, the arepa has a name. You go to a place where they sell them and on the menu you can read names like: A caballo, Catira, domino, llanera, perico, pabellón, rompe colchón, rumbera, sifrina. As I said, there are a variety of names for their filling, but the arepa alone, without filling, is called viuda. If you go to eat a delicious soup and ask for a viuda, they take your arepa alone. But very hot.

Also over time, the dough has varied in its mixture. Now with the country's crisis, Venezuelans have reinvented countless combinations when it comes to preparing the dough, which was traditionally made of ground corn.

Now the combination is also up to the Venezuelan's imagination. You can eat an arepa made with a mixture of cornflour and other foods, such as yucca, pumpkin, plantain, carrot, oatmeal, flaxseed, and stop counting, it is up to your imagination, that is, infinite... and all of them are super delicious. They can be fried or roasted as well.

The Andean arepa is another variety, prepared with wheat flour, very popular in this western part of the country, especially in Merida, Tachira, and of course in Barinas.

There is an arepa whose filling has a history, it is the only 100% Venezuelan arepa, with a history. The story goes that in 1955 in a store located in Sabana Grande, Caracas, they sold delicious arepas with a variety of fillings. They had one that was, at that time, the most sold, whose filling had chicken, avocado, mayonnaise and petit pois. The first Miss World of Venezuela at that time, Susana Duijm, a beautiful woman, radiant in a dress with a small petit pois design, which was the fashion at that time, came to eat there.  She loved the arepa so much that she asked the owner what the name of the arepa was.

The owner of the place, upon seeing such a beautiful woman, recently elected Miss World, eating in his place, was so excited that he answered that the arepa was called Reina Pepiada, in honor of her for being queen and for the dress with points (Pepas) that Miss World had at that time. Nowadays, anywhere in Venezuela, you ask for a Reina Pepiada and you get an arepa filled with chicken, avocado, mayonnaise, and petit pois. It is one of the most emblematic dishes of Venezuela.

I'm already hungry from commenting so much about the arepa, so I'll say goodbye to you, but as always a greeting and thanks to my dear sponsors and readers who follow me. If you ever visit my country, don't forget to order a delicious arepa Reina Pepiada.

Pictures from unsplash.com