Culture, fantastic food, and beautiful women are what you will find at the Feria de Cali. Each year, between Christmas and New Year, Cali has a festival, the Feria de Cali, where locals mingle with tourists to experience one of the biggest parties in Colombia. Those few days are filled with markets, parades, pageants, bull-fights and concerts; one of the most interesting for me is the gastronomic festival.
The theme for the gastronomic festival this year was Dia del Pacifico or Day of the Pacific. I arrived surrounded by Costeñas, and as the theme was oceanic, the main ingredient was, of course, seafood cooked in many differing variations such as empanadas, tamales, rice, arepas, and seviche.
Finding a table in the shade, a necessity considering my (compared to those around me) blanca complexión, wasn’t the easiest task as most tents were filled with large pots of oil and serving counters, and competition was fierce to sit near the best stalls.
When I finally found a seat, I took the tip from the locals and started ordering, and eating, seafood by the bucketload. There were a multitude of options to choose from and I was soon surrounded by platters of whole fish, accompanied with rice and potatoes, and seviche with prawns so large and juicy that my taste buds were tantalised.
Despite being inland, the seafood was fresh, and for a country that does not use a lot of spice in their cooking, the food was remarkably flavoursome and delicious. I put this down to the wonderful simple cooking of food that has been cooked in homes for generations, and the attention of the Cali locals who were making sure that I tried the best that was on offer.
But the best was yet to come. For I am a lover of all things sweet, and the varieties of desserts at the various tents were so simple, yet mouth-watering that I couldn’t resist. Coconut rice, chocolate arepas, snow cones as well, but the piece da resistance was Piña con Helado, which is a whole pineapple gutted and restuffed with pineapple and icecream, all covered with sweetened condensed milk and strawberry coulis. The only thing missing was the cherry on top.
All in all it was a fabulous afternoon, and what more could an Aussie girl want than to spend a day with friends eating delicious seafood and desserts, in glorious Cali weather.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to Aussie travellers in Colombia, Natalie Manning for writing this guest post, and Adan Rand for the photos. Natalie’s other Inside Cuisine article on Colombia is Travel: Comida Colombiano
You can follow guest writer Natalie Manning on Twitter at www.twitter.com/starrnat
Could not grab feed.
