Colombian pride: “Bandeja paisa”

It is believed that when the Bandeja Paisa was created, it was expected to be famous and, by the way, it’s delicious! It is a typical meal which is very popular in Colombian cuisine. The main characteristic of this dish is the generous amount and variety of food, such as red beans cooked with pork, white rice, ground meat, fried egg, plantain, black pudding, potato and avocado.

Several different cultures that inhabited Colombia throughout the centuries were indeed responsible for the creation of the aforementioned dish, including indigenous Colombians, as well as Spaniards and Africans. It is said that the current dish arrangement is relatively recent, due to the fact that there is no evidence of it before 1950.

From my point of view, this dish is amazingly exquisite and delightful for everyone’s palate, the Bandeja Paisa is one of my favourite dishes, it is not only about taste, it is also about the way in which it is prepared and served, the food’s presentation on the dish, and the attractive appearance to the eye.

Finally and mostly importantly, the dish was commemorated as a national dish by the Colombian government in 2005, and its name is recognized nationwide as “Bandeja Montañera”, Spanish for Mountain Tray, in order to avoid the exclusion of people beyond the region where the dish originates.

How about you? Have you ever tried it? If not, are you thinking in coming Colombia and try it now?

Leave your comments below, thank you!

Juan, Advanced IELTS Class

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

About CCEB

We are teachers and students at the Cairns College of English and Business (CCEB). How lucky are we to work and study in the Australian Wet Tropics with the world's oldest rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef at our doorstep! We would like to share our happy posts with the world! Welcome to the CCEB space eveyone.

4 thoughts on “Colombian pride: “Bandeja paisa”

  1. YUMMY, Juan! I am falling in love with this food. I have never heard about it but looks absolutely delicious. It is funny because in my country, Brazil, we are used to eating food with sugar. However is always nice to see other ways of eating the same food.
    Do you know if there is any restaurants here, in Cairns, where I can find this recipe?

    I hope one day I can try Bandeja paisa!

  2. This dish looks delicious! In Germany, we don’t have many dishes containing red beans – I unfortunately only know ‘Chili con carne’ so far. But I’m looking forward to visiting Colombia and I’m sure, I’ll memorize your article and will hopefully find a nice place to try Bandeja paisa!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *