Santa Marta is my favourite town in Colombia. I’ve been there 4 instances and each and every consult with finds one thing new about its fantastic meals tradition.
Not like Cartagena or Barranquilla, Santa Marta stays refreshingly native. Even if many nationwide vacationers consult with it feels just like the vacationer zone is proscribed to 1 boulevard resulting in Parque de los Novios.
The remainder of the town belongs to the individuals who reside right here and the meals displays that authenticity.
I come from the east coast of Canada alongside the sea. Strolling thru Santa Marta’s fish marketplace jogged my memory of house. The eyes at the fish are crystal transparent. The marketplace doesn’t scent. Those are indicators of high quality regardless of the place you cross.
The folk right here will name you over to speak about their catch. They need to percentage their wisdom. This heat and Colombian sincerity that defines Santa Marta.
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Santa Marta Meals Influences
Santa Marta is Colombia’s oldest town, completely positioned between the Caribbean Sea and the fantastic Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s historical past and geography have a novel have an effect on on meals in Santa Marta.
The fairway banana defines this town’s meals in some way that units it except for different coastal Colombian towns.
Within the early twentieth century the United Fruit Corporate operated right here and shipped ripe bananas to the US. The fairway bananas that weren’t appropriate for export had been left at the back of and bought affordably.
Other people in Santa Marta realized to turn out to be those inexperienced bananas into maintaining meals. You’ll to find inexperienced banana in soups, stews and facet dishes all over the town.
Whilst Cartagena and Barranquilla want inexperienced plantain, Santa Marta’s middle belongs to the golf green banana.
Indigenous communities have lived within the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta for hundreds of years. Their affect on conventional Colombian meals seems in using corn, cassava and local herbs. The connection between mountain and sea creates a novel factor palette.
The African diaspora introduced thru slavery formed coastal Colombian cooking. You notice this in using coconut, seafood stews and fried meals. The cazuela de mariscos stocks DNA with meal-stretching seafood dishes discovered around the African diaspora.
Spanish colonizers offered rice, red meat and explicit cooking tactics. The fusion of those influences with Indigenous and African traditions created one thing completely new.
Conventional Santa Marta Meals
Cayeye | Mashed Inexperienced Banana
Probably the most perfect breakfasts in Colombia, however you are going to want a large urge for food.
Cayeye is the #1 dish you want to devour in Santa Marta. That is the town’s signature breakfast and the dish that tells the tale of the United Fruit Corporate’s legacy.
Chefs boil inexperienced bananas till they give up to a fork then mash them with butter or oil right into a clean puree.
The mashing releases the banana’s herbal starches and creates a texture someplace between mashed potatoes and polenta. Crumbled coastal cheese provides sharp saltiness that cuts in the course of the gentle banana. Many variations crown the dish with fried fish, shredded red meat or huevos pericos.
The place to devour cayeye:
Cafe Bendito, Cra 12 #26B-155, Barrio Bavaria Santa Marta
Cazuela de Mariscos | Seafood Stew
This thick seafood stew is located throughout Colombia however Santa Marta’s model stands proud for its sheer abundance and African-influenced methodology.
Recent octopus, shrimp, sea snails and chunks of white fish swim in a wealthy broth constructed from the seafood itself. Chefs simmer the shells and heads first to extract ocean taste.
Inexperienced banana items dissolve partly into the broth and thicken it naturally thru their starches. Cream, white wine and coconut milk enrich the broth, the coconut milk being the African affect that distinguishes coastal Colombian cooking.
Grated cheese melts around the best simply sooner than serving. The dish arrives at your desk nonetheless scorching in its clay cazuela. Steam rises and carries the scent of the ocean blended with melted cheese.
This can be a meal stretcher in the most productive custom. Samarians take the items that gained’t promote entire – the octopus tentacles, the smaller shrimp, the fish collars, and turn out to be them into one thing extra precious than the sum of portions.
The methodology mirrors seafood chowders and stews around the African diaspora the place chefs realized to make luxurious from scraps.
And the methodology jogged my memory of house with our personal Nova Scotia chowder.
The place to devour cazuela:
The fish marketplace (Mercado Público de Santa Marta) has eating place stalls the place girls cook dinner the morning catch. It comes with a double starch of patacones and coconut rice.
Mojarra Frita | Fried Tilapia
Entire mojarra is the operating particular person’s fish in Santa Marta.
The fish will get a easy seasoning of salt, garlic and from time to time cumin. Deep frying makes the outside shatteringly crisp whilst conserving the flesh wet.
It’s served with lime, rice and patacones. Not anything fancy however completely completed.
The place to devour it: The fish marketplace or any native eating place. I had the dish above on an afternoon travel to Playa Cristal and it is among the perfect excursions in Santa Marta.
Arroz con Coco | Coconut Rice
Coconut rice seems with virtually each and every meal in Santa Marta however chefs right here take a special way than in Cartagena.
Cartagena’s coconut rice leans towards dessert territory with intense sweetness. Santa Marta’s model displays restraint. Chefs extract the coconut milk contemporary, combine it with water and rice, then upload simply sufficient salt and spices to stay the dish savory.
Some chefs upload a little of sugar to lend a hand the rice caramelize moderately at the backside of the pot. This creates a layer of crispy rice known as concón that will get fought over at circle of relatives foods.
The place to devour arroz con coco:
Any native eating place serving fish could have excellent coconut rice.
Arroz con Camarones | Shrimp Rice
This isn’t fried rice. Recent shrimp are cooked with tomatoes, peppers, onions and spices then blended with rice.
The shrimp liberate their taste into each and every grain. Some variations upload peas and carrots. The dish comes crowned with extra entire shrimp.
The place to devour arroz con coco:
Search for Liliana in Plaza de San Francisco within the ancient district. She additionally serves an excellent higher albacore fish with coconut rice and can do a part shrimp/part fish portion. She doesn’t discuss English however her son Schneider, who’s incessantly there does.
Pescado con Arroz de Coco | Fish with Coconut Rice
Any other one in every of Lilian’s superb dishes. Whilst I assumed I would like the shrimp maximum I needed to ask her about this fish which is simmered in tomatoes and spices. It’s so savory and balances the moderately candy rice.
She advised me it was once as a result of she makes use of albacora or what we all know as albacore tuna, it was once meaty, tasty and in point of fact a stand out dish.
The place to devour pescado con arroz de coco: Search for Liliana in Plaza de San Francisco within the ancient district.
Pastel | Rice Tamal
This isn’t your standard tamal. Pastel represents a uniquely coastal way to the tamal custom that spans Latin The united states.
Chefs combine rice with a lot of components that can come with diced red meat, hen, potatoes or carrot and a spice mix heavy on cumin and achiote. The combination chefs first in a pot till the rice absorbs the red meat fats and the spices.
Then comes the unique 2d cooking. The cook dinner wraps parts in bijao leaves, the vast leaves from banana timber that develop all over within the coastal lowlands.
The bijao leaves liberate a refined vegetal taste all over steaming. Extra importantly the second one steam creates a selected texture.
The rice partly congeals and companies up throughout the leaf packet. Whilst you unwrap a pastel the rice holds its form however yields simply to a fork.
The place to devour it: Boulevard distributors promote those from carts, particularly on weekends. Search for the unique inexperienced leaf bundles.
Bollo Tres Puntas | 3-Pointed Corn Cake
That is very explicit to Santa Marta and in truth one group at the out of doors of the town. Floor corn is blended with butter or oil and wrapped in corn husks with 3 pointed ends.
The corn is white and the feel is dense however now not heavy. That is maintaining meals supposed to gasoline bodily paintings. Some variations upload cheese. Others keep undeniable to let the corn taste shine.
The place to devour it: Within the Mamatoco group of Santa Marta.
Cóctel de Camarones | Shrimp Cocktail
Seafood in Santa Marta is subsequent degree and whilst many devour ceviche, similar to conventional Cartagena meals, seafood cocktails are much more in style.
Recent shrimp are poached and served in a tomato-based sauce with onions, cilantro and lime juice. That is seaside meals. Gentle and refreshing.
The sauce has a little bit kick from aji. Saltine crackers come at the facet for scooping.
The place to devour it: Seashore distributors and eating places alongside the waterfront.
Sancocho de Pescado | Fish Soup
Sancocho exists all over Colombia however the coastal model constructed round fish creates one thing distinct from its highland hen or red meat cousins.
Chefs get started with a complete fish, normally a company white fish that gained’t fall aside all over lengthy simmering. The fish is going in bone-in and incessantly head-on as a result of those portions give a contribution taste and frame to the broth.
The starchiness of cassava (yuca) chunks, potato, inexperienced plantain and corn at the cob thicken the broth naturally. This creates a broth that coats a spoon, it’s someplace between soup and stew.
Some chefs upload coconut milk which indicators the African affect in coastal cooking. Others stay it easy and let the fish and greens discuss for themselves.
The place to devour it: Native comedores and marketplace stalls. I had it on an in a single day travel to Rosario Islands, which stays one in every of my favorite puts alongside the Caribbean in Colombia.
Carimañola | Yuca Fritter
Carimañola is yuca (cassava) in its maximum indulgent shape and displays how the similar dish transforms throughout Colombia’s areas.
Chefs boil cassava till a fork slides thru simply then drain it completely. It’s mashed whilst nonetheless sizzling and the mashing releases sticky starches that bind the dough. Some chefs upload a little of butter or lard to make it extra pliable.
The dough wraps round fillings that fluctuate by means of location. At the Caribbean coast cheese is conventional, normally a salty white cheese that melts moderately all over frying.
In Bogotá the filling switches to seasoned flooring red meat blended with hard-boiled egg and rice. Santa Marta gives each variations relying at the seller.
You’ll to find them as ovals or soccer shapes.
The place to devour it: Boulevard distributors and standard breakfast spots. Morning distributors incessantly have each variations able.
Patacones con Salsa Rosada | Fried Plantain with Red Sauce
Patacones exhibit how double frying creates magic from humble components.
Chefs slice inexperienced plantains into thick rounds and fry them in brief in sizzling oil. This primary fry partly chefs the plantain and units the outside.
The plantains pop out of the oil and smashed flat, historically between two wood blocks however fashionable chefs use the rest from a pot backside to a unique press.
The smashing serves a number of functions. It will increase floor house dramatically. It creates an abnormal floor with peaks and valleys. When the smashed plantain returns to the new oil those abnormal surfaces crisp in a different way and create textural selection in each and every chunk.
The second one frying turns the plantains golden and crispy. The outside turns into crispy and the inner remains creamy. Salt hits the patacones whilst they’re nonetheless sizzling and oil-slicked.
Salsa rosada is natural Colombian pragmatism that I really like, ketchup and mayonnaise blended in combination. Some chefs upload minced garlic. The sauce is good, creamy and gives distinction to the salty fried plantain.
It’s thought to be crucial by means of maximum Colombians although guests incessantly skip it.
You’ll additionally to find patacones served with suero, which is analogous to bitter cream however extra tangy. I really like each choices.
The place to devour it: In all places. Each eating place and bar serves those. Boulevard distributors promote them contemporary from the fryer.
Tajaditas | Skinny Fried Plantain Chips
Principally plantain chips. Ripe plantains are sliced paper-thin and fried till crisp. Those chips are candy from the ripe plantain. They make an excellent snack or facet dish.
The place to devour it: Boulevard distributors and markets. You’ll even purchase industrial packaged plantain chips in retailer however the contemporary heat ones are perfect.
Arepa de Huevo | Egg-Filled Arepa
This coastal strong point is a outstanding methodology hidden inside of easy boulevard meals.
The cook dinner fries a corn arepa in sizzling oil till it puffs and creates a pocket inside of. She pulls it from the oil at precisely the proper second, when the arepa has puffed however sooner than the pocket collapses.
She cracks a complete egg and slides it into the new pocket. The arepa returns to the oil with the egg sealed inside of.
The second one frying chefs the egg whilst crisping the outside. Performed proper the yolk remains moderately runny. The whites set however stay mushy. Breaking into the arepa releases a go with the flow of sizzling yolk that combines with the corn.
The place to devour it: Boulevard distributors, particularly within the morning. Look forward to distributors with huge pots of oil and baskets of eggs.
Arepas de Queso | Cheese Arepas
Boulevard meals in Colombia is taken very severely, it’s now not only a snack it’s incessantly sufficient for a meal.
Santa Marta is house to one of the most tastiest arepas. However please come hungry as a result of they’re so filling. White cheese and corn dough shape a patty to cook dinner over an open grill in bijao leaves.
Those arepas are grilled till the cheese melts inside of. The outside will get crispy whilst the inner remains comfortable and tacky.
It virtually appears like a thick cheese filled potato cake, however such a lot higher.
The place to devour it:
Arepas de Yiya has been serving those superb arepas for 85 years and plenty of say it’s the most productive within the nation. The landlord nonetheless opens seven days every week from 4pm.
Arepitas de Maíz Verde | Inexperienced Corn Arepas
Floor contemporary inexperienced corn blended with cheese to make small arepas. The fairway corn has a special sweetness than dried corn. The feel is extra mushy.
Those are breakfast meals, served sizzling off the griddle. And virtually really feel like softer, tastier tortilla chips.
The place to devour arepitas de maiz verde:
Mas Que Pan, Calle 14 con carrera 4, Santa Marta
Huevos Pericos | Scrambled Eggs with Greens
Eggs scrambled with tomatoes, scallions and from time to time peppers. That is same old Colombian breakfast however Santa Marta serves it with coastal aspects like inexperienced banana or patacones.
Additionally it is commonplace in Venezuela and is called after the colours of a parrot.
The place to devour huevos pericos:
Mas Que Pan, Calle 14 con carrera 4, Santa Marta
Enyucado | Cassava Cake
Enyucado is a standard Colombian baked dessert the usage of grated yuca/cassava blended with coconut, sugar, butter and cheese.
The result’s candy, dense and chewy. Coconut taste dominates. Locals devour it for dessert or a candy snack with espresso.
The place to devour it: Bakeries all over the town.
Cocadas | Coconut Goodies
Cocadas are one of the vital hottest Colombian muffins anywhere you to find coconut. Shredded coconut is cooked with sugar till it paperwork a sweet.
White cocadas are made with coconut and sugar most effective. Brown cocadas upload panela (unrefined cane sugar) for a deeper taste. I desire this a lot more as I to find they style much less candy.
The good factor is those chocolates are bought for my part so it’s challenging to mention no to attempting only one.
The place to devour it: Boulevard distributors, particularly close to seashores and vacationer spaces.
Bolas de Tamarindo | Tamarind Balls
Tamarind pulp is blended with sugar and from time to time chili powder then rolled into balls.
The flavour is good, bitter and from time to time highly spiced. Those are conventional Colombian sweet however you’ll additionally to find them in different Caribbean tradition, as they’re a well-liked Jamaican meals too.
The place to devour tamarind balls:
Boulevard distributors and markets. And if you happen to like them you’ll to find commercially packaged chocolates within the grocery store.
Dulce de Ñame | Candied Yam
This candy is largely cooked yam with panela, cinnamon and cloves. It’s cooked down a candy thick pudding. It’s very dense so get a small portion however smartly price attempting.
The place to devour it: Markets and a few conventional eating places.
Arepa de Anís | Anise Arepa
Those candy arepas are flavored with anise seeds. The anise provides a licorice-like taste. Those are dessert and even breakfast. I don’t love licorice however in truth they’re nice with espresso.
The place to devour it: Bakeries and boulevard distributors.
Aguapanela con Limón | Panela Water with Lime
There are such a large amount of distinctive Colombian beverages however I really like this easy one essentially the most.
This drink represents Colombian rural existence distilled into a tumbler. Making aguapanela calls for most effective 3 components: panela, water and lime.
Chefs boil chunks of panela, unprocessed sugar cane this is shaped into blocks. Lime juice cuts the heavy sweetness and provides brightness.
The drink works sizzling or chilly. Within the Andean highlands other folks drink it sizzling as morning gasoline or a day pick-me-up.
At the coast of Santa Marta you’ll to find chilly aguapanela. Boulevard distributors stay huge boxes of chilly aguapanela and ladle it into plastic luggage with straws.
And it’s like an area iced tea or lemonade, you’ll to find it all over. And whilst it has a sugary base it’s additionally prime in iron and magnesium and the easiest method to cool off.
The place to devour it: Any eating place or boulevard cart. Many breakfast spots serve it routinely together with your meal.
Mazamorra | Corn Drink
Cracked corn is cooked with milk and sugar till thick.
This drink is served chilly. The feel is between a drink and a pudding.
Some variations upload cinnamon. Very filling.
The place to devour it: Boulevard distributors and juice stands.
Tinto | Colombian Espresso
Small cups of black espresso served candy. Santa Marta sits close to the coffee-growing area. The espresso here’s excellent. Tinto is served all over the day from thermoses carried by means of boulevard distributors.
The place to devour it: Actually all over. Boulevard distributors stroll round with thermoses.
Chicha | Fermented Corn Drink
Chicha has Indigenous roots which might be sooner than Spanish colonization. The identify and methodology span the Americas however each and every area creates its personal model.
Conventional chicha makes use of corn soaked in water for days. Herbal fermentation starts and the corn develops a slight bitter funk. Chefs grind the fermented corn with contemporary water then pressure out the solids.
They upload sugar and spices like cinnamon or cloves. The combination ferments additional or will get served contemporary relying at the maker’s desire.
Santa Marta additionally makes chicha from rice as a substitute of corn. This change is newer and caters to trendy tastes.
The rice model ferments much less and tastes sweeter. I had one who had a cream soda taste profile. Some distributors upload purple coloring although this serves no goal past aesthetics.
I desire the corn model with its funky fermented taste. The rice model appeals to these short of one thing sweeter and extra approachable.
The place to devour it: Boulevard distributors, particularly on weekends. Search for distributors with huge plastic boxes exhibiting other colours.
Meals Tradition in Santa Marta
The weekends in Santa Marta are loud. Song blasts from each and every nook. Automobiles honk. Other people acquire to devour and drink.
The meals tradition here’s beneficiant. If you’ll’t end your meal it’s totally standard to supply it to any person else. This isn’t thought to be an insult in Colombia. Many of us don’t have enough get entry to to meals and sharing is constructed into the tradition.
The fish marketplace opens early. Fishermen carry within the catch and their households run the cooking stalls. The fish is so contemporary the marketplace doesn’t scent.
Maximum eating places are small circle of relatives operations. The similar girl would possibly cook dinner the similar dish on a daily basis for many years. Arepas Yiya has been open for 85 years with the similar circle of relatives working it.
The most productive meals comes from marketplace stalls, boulevard distributors and small comedores in residential neighborhoods. Those are the puts the place locals devour on a daily basis. The parts are massive and the costs are honest.
That’s the spirit of Samarian meals.
Pin it: Very best Meals in Santa Marta
