Venezuela
Frescolita
A Venezuelan strawberry-flavoured red soda, sweet and fizzy, a nostalgic national soft drink, often served at parties and with fast food.
south-america
Venezuela
Explore 86 foods connected to Venezuela, from everyday staples to rare local specialties.
86 foods12 leading categories1 Essentials guides
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The local shortlist
Venezuela Essentials
11 editor-selected foods for understanding the place through what people eat.
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Traditional foods from Venezuela.
86 foods in this view. Filter by category, type, rarity, or search every recorded name.
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Venezuela
Golfeados
Sweet rolls made with grated papelón and aniseed, baked in a tray and topped with a slice of white cheese and syrup.
Venezuela
Guarapo
Cane juice pressed from fresh stalks or made by dissolving papelón, drunk cold and sometimes left to ferment slightly.
Venezuela
Guasacaca
Sauce of avocado blended with coriander, parsley, garlic, vinegar and oil into a loose green dressing poured over grilled meat and tostones.
Venezuela
Guayoyo
Weak black coffee brewed by pouring hot water slowly through grounds in a cloth sock, drunk all day in small cups.
Colombia
Hallaca
Maize dough stained with annatto, spread on plantain leaves and filled with a stew of beef, pork, chicken, olives, capers and raisins, tied and boiled — made only at Christmas.
Venezuela
Hervido de Gallina
A Venezuelan hen soup with corn, potatoes, carrots, cassava, cocoyam and pumpkin, seasoned with onions, garlic and cilantro, a rustic, hearty broth.
Venezuela
Jalea de Mango
Green mango cooked with papelón until it reduces to a stiff, sour-sweet paste, cut into blocks and eaten with cheese.
Dominican Republic
Majarete
A Dominican silky corn pudding of fresh corn, coconut milk, milk, sugar, and cinnamon, set until creamy. Served cold with a dusting of cinnamon, a classic dessert.
Venezuela
Majarete
Venezuelan majarete is a firm corn-and-coconut pudding sweetened with papelón and scented with cinnamon.
Venezuela
Malta
Dark, sweet, non-alcoholic malt drink, drunk very cold and often poured over condensed milk.
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Mandoca
Ring of maize dough enriched with ripe plantain and papelón, deep-fried and eaten hot with butter and white cheese.
Zulia, Venezuela
Mojito en Coco
Mojito en coco is a Zulian fish stew simmered in coconut milk with ají dulce, onion and herbs until the sauce turns fragrant and savory.
Venezuela
Mondongo
Tripe cut small and cooked long with chickpeas, potato, pumpkin and vegetables into a thick, heavily seasoned soup.
Venezuela
Nata
Soured cream skimmed and thickened until it is spreadable and tangy, eaten on arepas and casabe.
Venezuela
Pabellón a Caballo
A Venezuelan variation of pabellón criollo topped with a fried egg, the name meaning 'on horseback', a hearty, comforting, everyday meal.
Venezuela
Pabellón Criollo
White rice, black beans, shredded beef in tomato sofrito and fried sweet plantain arranged in four separate parts on one plate.
Venezuela
Paledonia
Paledonia, also called catalina or cuca, is a Venezuelan baked wheat-flour sweet made with papelón or molasses and warm spices.
Venezuela
Pan de Jamón
Soft enriched loaf rolled around ham, bacon, green olives and raisins, baked at Christmas and sliced into spirals.
Colombia
Panela
Papelón
Colombian unrefined cane sugar, sold in hard blocks, used to sweeten aguapanela, juices, and desserts. A national staple, the base of many drinks and sweets.
Carabobo, Venezuela
Panelitas de San Joaquín
Carabobo's panela cookies baked into thin, crisp-edged squares.
Venezuela
Papelón
Unrefined cane sugar set into hard blocks, shaved or dissolved for drinks, sauces, breads and the browning in asado negro.
Venezuela
Papelón con Limón
Papelón dissolved in water with lime juice and served over ice — the everyday soft drink, sold at every lunch counter.
Mérida, Venezuela
Pastelito Andino
Wheat-dough turnover from the Andes filled with cheese, chicken or beans and fried, eaten for breakfast with coffee.
Venezuela
Pasticho Venezolano
Pasticho
Venezuelan layered lasagna with béchamel, meat sauce, and plenty of cheese.
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Patacón Zuliano
Two flattened, twice-fried green plantains used as the bread of a sandwich, filled with shredded beef, chicken, cheese and sauces.
Venezuela
Perico
A Venezuelan scrambled egg dish with tomatoes, onions and ají dulce, seasoned with salt and pepper, a classic breakfast served with arepas.
Venezuela
Pernil
A whole roasted pork leg, marinated in garlic, citrus and spices until the skin is crackling and the meat is tender. A Pernambuco and Brazilian festive centerpiece.
Mérida, Venezuela
Pisca Andina
Andean breakfast soup of potato, milk, coriander and a poached egg, thin and hot and eaten before dawn in the mountains.
Llanos, Venezuela
Pisillo
Pisillo is Llanos shredded meat or fish cooked down with onion, peppers and spices until the strands absorb the seasoned juices.
Venezuela
Polar
Pale lager brewed since 1941 and drunk extremely cold in small bottles so it stays that way in the heat.
Venezuela
Polvorosa de Pollo
Chicken stew in a sweet-savoury sauce with raisins and olives, sealed under a very short, crumbly pastry lid dusted with sugar.
Venezuela
Ponche Crema
Egg, milk and rum liqueur bottled since 1900 and drunk at Christmas, thick, sweet and dusted with nutmeg.
Venezuela
Quesillo
Caramel-lined custard of whole eggs and condensed milk, baked in a bain-marie and turned out with holes running through it.
Venezuela
Queso de Año
Cow's cheese salted and aged for a year or more until it turns hard, crumbly and sharp, grated into golfeados and desserts.
Venezuela
Queso de Mano
Fresh cheese stretched and folded by hand into soft, elastic sheets, sold in stacks and folded into cachapas while still warm.