The arepa, the symbol of identity that unites Venezuelans

A budare. That’s what Carolina Escorihuela thought when she was organizing in her mind what she would take in her suitcase to Tokyo, where she was sent for two years by the technology company she works for in Caracas. She couldn’t imagine leaving her house every morning without first eat an arepaBut I also didn’t believe it was possible that in that Asian country, more than 14 thousand kilometers away, there was a business selling arepas.

Already settled into her new life, she was walking down a city street and a smell made her stop. “It smelled like Venezuela, like my house, like my grandmother’s kitchen.” She turned around and saw something that had never existed in her dreams: a arepa food truck.

“I wasn’t hungry, but my Venezuelan identity led me to go to that business. I spoke Spanish with the owner, also from Caracas, and I ate a queen pepiada and I cried with happiness.”

And it is much more than just a meal. “The corn cake It became our symbol, our letter of introduction. It has very important symbolic emotional elements such as belonging, identity, tradition. It is in the taste memory“, said food historian and gastronomic researcher Rafael Cartay.

Arepa to start from scratch

When Simón Figuera arrived in Switzerland, almost 16 years ago, he never imagined that starting from scratch for him would have a direct connection with the corn cake.

In that European country he did not have the opportunity to work in foreign trade and marketing, which was what he had trained for in Venezuela. So he started working in small restaurants, first washing dishes, then making simple recipesAt home she made arepas for friends until someone gave her the idea of ​​making them to sell.

That was not his original plan, but it is what has provided a livelihood for him and his family since 2012 when they started the business in a small market on a street in the city of Lucerneevery Saturday.

“It was on a small table, with the cheapest equipment and learning because I had no idea what it was. make arepas to sellthe fillings, the decoration, the sauces, learning all that from scratch and today we continue to tell it.”

This is how this September 14, more than eight kilometers away from where he was born, he celebrates the World Arepa DayThis year the motto is “arepa unites us”, as a way of recognizing what this important dish has become on the Venezuelan menu.

Adaptable to each country

From the first moment, the acceptance of the arepas In Figuera’s business it was very good, people were very receptive.

“The arepa has become a means of entrepreneurship for many Venezuelans who have had to emigrate and start their lives from scratch. Without looking for it, it has become a country brand ambassador and has begun to position itself as a fast food that many people like, always with the ability to adapt to the tastes of each country,” confirmed food journalist Ligia Velásquez.

For her, arepa tastes like home. Not in vain is it normal to find it in many countries precooked corn flour so that the tradition continues to be maintained at home. “And yet, these spaces, restaurants or small arepa shops began to emerge that not only welcome Venezuelans but also locals. In several places they even include fillings from the country so that people understand the possibilities that the arepa has.”

And that is what has happened with Figuera’s business, which has been transformed into catering and delivery for family events and sales in public spaces such as open-air concerts. 90% of his clients are Swiss, the remainder being Latin American foreigners in that country.

“People say that the corn cake It’s like polenta, but roasted and crispy.” Adaptations to the fillings were necessary. For example, in Switzerland the traditional one is not sold very often. queen pepiada whose creation, recalled the specialist Cartay, was to celebrate the great first great triumph of Venezuela in Miss World, by Susana Duijim, and it was the Álvarez brothers who made it in her honor in Caracas, and they became so popular that they had several locations.

That’s why Figuera had to make a variation that he calls “crazy chicken,” which is a filling with a citrus flavor thanks to the fusion of lemon with herbs like rosemary, and it is the best-selling arepa in your business.

He also had to make a vegan arepa which is a variation of the pabellón, but without meat. It is called Canaima and has black beansslices and pickled onions.

“Another popular dish here is what we call Latin Chinese. We make it by combining Asian ingredients like soy sauce, mirin and soy with local seasonal vegetables.” This is how they have fillings of pumpkin with mushrooms and Chinese cabbage, and cream-type puree with beetroot and feta cheese.

As a curious fact, there are many Swiss who prefer eat the arepa with a fork and knife and Figuera tells them to try it as if it were a hamburger. Some agree, others enjoy it with cutlery.

A cultural connection

Carolina was not the only one who took her budare when leaving Venezuela. Chef and specialist in Venezuelan cuisine and signature dishes, Ema Guzmán, said that at least 50% of those who have migrated did so as well.

“It is part of the longing for the country they left behind, for their family, for its flavors. corn cake It’s that first day of school, it’s the mom’s foodit’s a children’s song, it’s so many things to us.”

For Guzmán, in a short time, the arepa has become one of the foods with the most resonance and remembrance for foreign curiosity. This is evident from a photo of Nicole Kidman in Australia eating one, to the couples and friends of Venezuelans in other countries who want to visit Venezuela to try the arepas. more native flavors.

“This culinary tradition has been elevated, it has reached the fine dining experience of haute cuisine, it has reached Japan, so every day there are more arepas in the world.”

The origin of the arepa

“Talking about arepa means talking about the culture of corn,” said Guzmán, a specialist in Venezuelan cuisine. It is a tradition that is established throughout Latin America, with its variations.

The food historian and writer Rafael Cartay agrees. He explained that corn is a sacred plant for Mesoamerican and South American cultures, from which many dishes are derived.

“Corn appeared eight thousand years before Christ and began, more or less at six or five thousand years, its process of diffusion. One went north to the United States and Canada and the other went south throughout Central America and happened like the migration in reverse began, from Darien on the way to Colombia and from there it continues south to the Andes mountain range until reaching Argentina and Chile and, on the other hand, it reached Venezuela via the coastal mountain range and reaches the north of the country.”

Another route of entry was through the Yucatan Peninsula, corn arrived by ship to the Caribbean and from there the Arawak cultures and the Taino who resided in the islands of the Greater Antilles, who spread corn throughout the area of South America in the northern part where Venezuela is.

This created several facts derived from the origins of each ethnic group. “The Cumanagotos called it erepa, that is where the word arepa for some, and for others it is not arepa, but budare or aripo, that is, the system used to cook food in the Caribbean.”

Cartay divided the History of the arepa in VenezuelaBefore the 1950s, variations were made with peeled corn, using lime, which is the nixtamalization system of the Mesoamerican and Mexican indigenous groups. Pilado was also made with a pestle to husk the corn, which was introduced by Afro-Venezuelan groups.

Later, the corn dehydration and precooking system was put into practice by Professor Luis Caballero Mejías. After his death, the patent was sold by the Mendoza family, who globalized precooked flour through Alimentos Polar.

It was also from the 1950s that people began to fill the arepa, which turned it into the breakfast and dinner reference of Venezuela.

Venezuelan or Colombian?

A common controversy is about the arepa and its nationality. Chef Ema Guzmán resolved this dilemma by explaining that during the second voyage of Christopher Columbus It entered Venezuela through the Zulia border with Colombia, where the aboriginal people were and that bread was known by Spanish interpretation, as “erepa” and that is how it evolved.

“But, after the separation of Gran Colombia, everyone shared their arepa, but with certainty and with origins, The arepa is completely Venezuelan”.

Cartay pointed out that there are preparations very similar to the arepa, such as relatively thin round discs that are filled, as is the case with the pupusa in El Salvador, while in Colombia they do not have the custom of filling.

“The stuffed arepa is very different from the Colombian arepa“That is why they followed two different paths, two parallel stories, but each one has a symbolic seal for each country.”

The future of the arepa

“The arepa is Venezuela on the table,” said gastronomic researcher Cartay when talking about its future, which, for Chef Guzmán, has no limits.

The journalist specializing in the area, Ligia Velásquez, assured that, being a gluten free producthas a great potential to reach many more people who, in addition to wanting to eat well, also seek to take care of their health. It is a dish that, within its simplicity, is super democratic and can be filled with an infinite number of ingredients.

For several years now, the arepa has entered the world street food rankingbut the communicator believes that there is still a long way to go. “In countries where there has been more migration, it has already become a well-known dish, but it still needs more marketing and adaptation to each country they arrive in. It is a lot of work.”

For Guzmán, what is now a seed will become a Samán tree in the most cosmopolitan cities around the world in a few years, “I am very sure of that.”

Just as Carolina Escorihuela found a little piece of her home in a corner of Tokyo, Simón Figuera made the corn cake the pillar that allowed him to start from scratch in Switzerland. Two stories that, although distant, demonstrate the power of this simple but emblematic dish to connect cultures, emotions and life paths, being much more than a food: a symbol that unites Venezuelans no matter where they are.