Colombia: Tricky cocktails, traumatic bildungsroman and tempting treats
As I eat, drink, read, listen and watch my way around the world, I always have an eye on the countries that await me and so it was with Christmas morning excitement that I embarked on this week’s trip to Colombia; even though I had failed to find Colombian wine or even a bottle of their national spirit Aguardiente. Part of the anticipation had to do with opening a bottle of delicious Rathlee rum — grown in Colombia and brewed in Cornwall — and the fact that I planned to use it for this Colombia cocktail which takes the stripes of the Colombian flag. Sadly, my cocktail refused instructions and the stripe ended up in the wrong place (I blame sugar-free grenadine). But despite this slight insult to national pride, the results were delicious, though a little too strong for my mother-in-law…
For I not only spent this week in Colombia, I was also on holiday (in Cheshire) with the in-laws, meaning that I had to find recipes that would work for an omnivorous audience aged 9–75. The solution was to make Bandeja paisa, which is basically every single Colombian speciality on one plate… What could go wrong? Well, for a start, the first dozen recipes had some kind of animal product in it, but on lucky 13 I found this recipe for the black bean stew, as well as a shop that sold vegan chorizo. They did not, however have the arepa flour I needed to make arepa (a gluten free corn bread), but being an incredibly flexible type I found out how to make it out of polenta instead. Everything else was pretty simple. Rice, avocado, fried plantain… and most satisfyingly, everyone ate the lot and even asked for the black bean recipe.
When I needed a break from in-lawing, I hid upstairs with this week’s book — Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras whose Twitter account is worth following if you want insights into what is happening in Colombia today. Like so many of the novels I’ve read, it is written from the perspective of a young child forced to leave behind her youth and her faith in humanity; it tells the story of escape and violence; and it is permeated by the threat of societal collapse.
Regular readers will know that this tale is far from unique and I hope that those of us lucky enough to grow up with joy, stability, love and a lack of fear are always mindful that such simple pleasures were not the basis of childhood for many people in many countries. But although the novel explores trauma, the writing is so rich and comforting that I looked forward to heading to bed to read it and can’t wait to read Contreras’ next novel.
One of the real-life characters who haunts the book is Pablo Escobar, a murderous gangster who has managed to be venerated in death even whilst his victims are forgotten. I wanted to steer clear of the many films that want to focus on his life, and the answer came in the form of Pickpockets, one of those strange movies that tries to tackle a serious issue (poverty, cock-fighting, youth crime) light-heartedly and ends up feeling like a super inappropriate kids TV show. Each character is a cliché, but the actors are solid and it is fascinating to spend an hour or so in Bogotá. I am sure, however that there are many better Colombian films out there… and would appreciate a recommendation… even if it is partly about Escobar. After all there must be something about a guy whose funeral was attended by over 25,000 people and whose home has been turned into a theme park.
As with all the South American countries we have visited, there seems to be a rich seam of music which I could spend weeks checking out, I will keep looking for more Colombian music, but for now here is a short playlist of the best I could find.
Normally that is where I would end my dispatch, but there is a coda! One of the planned titles of this blog was Adventures in Multicultural Brum, as I had hoped to visit many of the nation-based restaurants that dot our fair city. At the top of that list would probably have been the Pineapple Club, a cocktail bar with a Colombian chef and menu. I couldn’t therefore finish this week without trying it for you all… Aside from the expensive delicious aguardiente free cocktails, you get proper arepas, filled with avocado and very, very much better than the ones I had attempted, you also get plantain fried until it is as crispy as a cracker. They don’t attempt the Colombian cocktail though… perhaps it is even too hard for the professionals.
OK, that really is it! The week is done, the in-laws are back home and I am off the Comoros Islands and Mayotte. I don’t even know where that is, but look forward to finding out.
