There are two basic debates surrounding Colombian arepas: how many kinds there are and what their true origin is. There are estimates that speak of hundreds and even thousands of types of this traditional dough made from corn dough or precooked corn flour, with sweet, savory, fried, simple and even stuffed versions. Although it has been documented that its preparation dates back to pre-Columbian times, when different Indigenous groups harvested corn and made various preparations, there is a dispute with the also powerful Venezuelan arepas.
In Colombia, there is practically no single corner where arepas are not prepared. The most representative are: in the Atlantic coast, the egg arepa; in the southwest of the country, the chocolo arepa; in the Cundiboyacense highlands, the Boyaca arepa; in the west of the country, the Paisa arepa; and in the east, the Santandereana arepa. In short, this preparation has variations that cross regions, climates, cultures and traditions. That is why the arepa is also known as Colombia’s unofficial national emblem.
In an effort to further study this beloved dish, the cook and researcher Jose Luis Rivera began a journey across the country to document 200 types of arepas. “We want to make a book with the 200, tell the story of each one, the people who make them, and include an inventory of the 600 that we have registered,” he told El Pais of Spain. His project also seeks to promote before UNESCO the nomination of the arepa as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Because of initiatives like this, Rivera is recognized on social media as the cook who documents the gastronomic knowledge of forgotten communities. After being abroad, he returned to the country to travel through it and learn by going into towns, speaking with people, collecting stories, and learning techniques.
“There are people who have supported their families thanks to arepas,” he told the Spanish media. For this reason, his project also seeks to dignify those who preserve cultural and gastronomic heritage, and along those lines he has gone to regional governments and city halls to promote recognition of those who keep these traditions alive.
A project driven by thousands of messages
The same outlet spoke with historian, journalist and cook Luisa Acosta, who said that the arepa is much more than a food: it is a reflection of the peoples that over time became what is now Colombia, with all its diversity and differences. “It is a cultural, social product and part of an Indigenous and later peasant economic structure, which has a historical continuity that resists to this day,” she said.
On his Facebook account, Rivera makes an appeal to find funding for what he calls “the most important project in Colombian gastronomy.” He also calls it “the never-before-seen one”: 32 departments, 200 types of arepa, more than 22,000 kilometers to travel.
He added that the “Colombia country of arepas” movement was born from the thousands of messages he received. “I have knocked on several doors and I confess that I have thought about giving up, letting this go and going back to what I had before.” But he has received so much support that he decided to move forward. “We are not going to allow the flavors of our mothers and grandmothers to die in oblivion,” he said.
Now Colombia awaits the result of this research, carried out by a cook who also learned to make videos that accumulate thousands of views and have connected urban audiences with rural kitchens that still resist. As the arepa has resisted time. The Spanish media recalls that this dough has maintained its prominence on Colombian tables, regardless of place or socioeconomic condition. It has survived industrialization and globalization, even though they threaten its diversity and essence.