Drinking cerveza Maracucho style

Our good friend from Maracaibo explains how to drink a beer in Record-Guinness-style.

For Munchies in Bournemouth Try Sandra's Arepas

There's no excuse for missing out on arepas and empanadas in the seaside town of Bournemouth after enterprising Caraqueña Sandra Sardan started selling Venezuelan food on Saturdays and Sundays from a food outlet called Munchies.

A journalism and media student who presented TV travel documentaries in her native Venezuela, Sandra now swaps the pressures of her English media course for the humbler pleasures of the kitchen at the weekends so she can bring a small taste of her tropical homeland to the UK.

From 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sandra sells arepas stuffed with traditional fillings such as grated cheese, shredded chicken and shredded beef as well as traditional combinations such as La Peluda (shredded beef and grated cheese), La Catira (shredded chicken and grated cheese) and the queen of arepas, the Reina Pepiada.

A speciality of the house is Sandra's homemade guasacaca sauce, a Venezuelan staple made with avocadoes, garlic, coriander leaves, olive oil and vinegar.

Unlike Mexico's chunky guacamole sauce, which is also made with avocadoes, guasacaca is runny - just right for drizzling over arepas.

Sandra also prepares tequeños (fried pastry twists filled with cheese) and soft drinks like papelon con limon (cane sugar lemonade).

"Munchies is only open at the weekend because I study from Monday to Friday and just don't have the time to open every day," says Sandra, who adds that opening a Venezuelan arepera in an English seaside resort was "a crazy idea that I dreamt up when I first got to Bournemouth."

"It was hard at first," she says, but "good recommendations have brought new customers and now many local people know the place.".

"It's also great when other Venezuelans come by looking for the taste of home," she adds.

So do yourself a favour and get down to Munchies at 236 Old Christchurch Road in Bournemouth.



Arepa and Co: Authentic Arepera in Camden Market, London

Glossary: Eating at an Arepera

Pabellon Criollo - Venezuela's National Dish

Buying Harina Pan in the UK

Recipe: Caraotas Negras - Venezuelan Black Beans

Recipe: Carne Mechada - Venezuelan Shredded Beef

Rum cocktails - El Ritual

When it comes to rum cocktails, most people who like the occasional umbrella in their drink have tried a Cuban Mojito, a Strawberry Daiquiri or a Pina Colada, but how many people have tried Venezuela's wild and wonderful rum concoction El Ritual?

Closer to a Tequila slammer than a true cocktail El Ritual, as its name suggests, is not about mixing interesting flavours in a glass, but creating an event, performing a set of steps that allow you to mix the raw flavours in your mouth for a full-on explosion of taste bud-tingling tropical nonsense.

And you don't need to be a barman to make it. Trust me.

The first ingredient - and there's no point starting without this - is a shot-glass-sized-helping of aged Venezuelan rum.

Quality sipping rums like Pampero Aniversario, Cacique 500 or Santa Teresa 1796 are excellent for this, because they have the most complex flavours.

But don't be put off, any dark Venezuelan rum will do.

Second, you need a few limes cut into wedges.

Third, you pour brown sugar and instant coffee into two separate piles on a dish or tray.

Then all you do is take a lime wedge, dip one side into the sugar, the other into the coffee and bite and suck on it.

Immediately the bitterness of the coffee and the sweetness of the sugar will fill your mouth and threaten to overwhelm your tastebuds. But don't panic. Help is at hand.

Take the glass of rum and have a swig. You don't need to down it one just take enough rum into your mouth to let all the flavours mingle.

A second swig from the glass will bring in new flavours, as the rich warm buttery taste of the rum replaces the slight bitterness of the coffee and the shallow sweetness of the sugar.

When you've finished just lick your lips, get back in line and have another one.

It sounds like an unlikely combination, I know, but somehow it works.

And it's like rocket fuel at parties. Apart from the alcohol in the rum, the coffee and sugar work well together to lift the energy of a flagging get together or dinner. Serve a couple of rounds of El Ritual just before the salsa tunes kick in and strictly dance floor mayhem is sure to ensue.

There are no excuses for not experimenting with Venezuelan rums in the UK, Waitrose supermarkets currently stock a good aged rum from Santa Teresa called "Gran Reserva" and I've seen Pampero "Gold" on sale in bars, so it must be on sale somewhere (let me know if you find out where).

In Italy, El Ritual is a key element in Pampero's publicity campaign, which went out with the rather odd slogan: "Il rum piu bevuto nei peggiori bar di Caracas" ("The rum most drunk in the worst bar in Caracas".)

The TV ad (watch it below)shows a motley bunch of drinkers downing shots of Pampero Aniversario with lime, sugar and coffee as they watch a boxing match.

Given the usual parade of beautiful people with perfect smiles, gym bodies and silicon enhancements that populate drink ads in Venezuela, some Venezuelans took offence at the image of Caracas depicted in the ad - with its less-than-glamorous drinkers tottering about in a dive bar - but it was a big hit with the Italians and helped establish Pampero as a major player in the Italian rum market.

So try something new. Give El Ritual a go and let me know if it works for you.

Venezuelan Rum - Ho Ho Ho!

Sorry for not posting for a while but I was travelling in Venezuela for work. I'm currently researching material for an update to the "Bradt Guide to Venezuela", a travel guide in English which will come out next year.
It's a lot of work but I'm loving the opportunity to criss-cross the country, catch up with old friends, make new friends and have some adventures.
I'm hoping this impressive shelf of Venezuelan rums, aquired on my last trip, will inspire me to come up with some recipes for exciting rum cocktails, although Venezuelan rum is so smooth it's good enough to sip neat or over ice.

Venezuelan Rum Cocktail Recipe: El Ritual

Guayoyo o tetero, flaco? - Venezuelan coffee glossary

You can credit Starbucks for the annoying coffee snobbery that turns seemingly normal people into seething wrecks of a morning if they can't get hold of their usual "grande, half-caf, non-fat, sugar-free, double-shot, extra-foam, no-whip, pumpkin-spice latte - with extra cinnamon", or whatever over-frothed, over-priced muck they drink in place of regular java.

But all the Starbucks snobbery in the world will cut no ice in Venezuela, where the usual coffee rules don't apply and the etiquette of ordering is as important as knowing the subtle differences between a con leche grande and a marron claro grande.

Where to buy?

The best place to get a caffeine fix in Venezuela is definitely at your local panaderia. Literally translated as "bakery", a panaderia is much more than a place to buy bread and cakes.

Panaderias also sell tasty savoury delights such as empanadas (cornmeal or pastry pasties filled with cheese, chicken or beef) and cachitos (crescent-moon-shaped pastries stuffed with chopped ham).

But it's the coffee that pulls the customers in, and panaderia coffee is worth standing in line for.

The quality of Venezuela's locally-grown coffee is excellent - mainly because the export market is so small that the best quality beans are consumed in the country, unlike neighbouring Colombia where all you can get most places is lukewarm Nescafe from a thermos.

The great coffee experience to be had in Venezuela is also due to the huge influx of Italian immigrants - both before and after the Second World War - who not only brought with them Gaggia coffee machines but also the methods of dark-roasting the beans that gives them such a strong flavour.

No matter where you go, from the biggest city to the smallest village, every panaderia worthy of its name will have a Gaggia machine pumping out strong black coffee and steam to froth the milk.

What to order?

Ordering coffee can be complicated for first-timers in Venezuela. Asking for "un cafe por favor" won't get you very far.

Basically there are two sizes available in most places: the larger cafe grande, which isn't that big by Starbucks standards and the smaller cafe pequeno, which is equivalent to a small expresso.

A large black coffee, or cafe negro grande, is strong enough to give some people the caffeine shakes, so one solution is the oddly-named guayoyo, a black coffee that has been slightly watered down.

If you're looking for a latte equivalent order a con leche grande. If you want it extra milky order a tetero grande. A tetero is a baby's bottle in Spanish so don't expect much of a caffeine kick.

For a darker, stronger coffee ask for a marron grande. I like it strong and dark so I always ask for a marron oscuro grande.

If you like it extra strong remember to add the word fuerte at the end of your order.

Some people complicate the issue even further by ordering odd combinations like a marron claro grande, which is so close to a con leche grande that I can't see any difference.

The only other coffee you might want to order is the carajillo, a black coffee with a shot of rum or Brandy. The drink has its roots in the Spanish ocupation of Cuba, when the troops would get a little courage, or corajillo before a battle by adding rum to their coffee.

How to order?

Don't expect the staff to fall over themselves to take your order. Most panaderias will a have signs up on the wall saying you have to buy a ticket from the cashier before ordering your coffee or snacks, so simply asking for stuff without a ticket to wave can result in a complete blank.

Even when you do get the ticket you still have to expect the sometimes overfamiliar interaction between staff and customers that is typical in Venezuela.

The first time I walked into my local panaderia, the girl who sold the empanadas and cachitos greeted me with a big smile and a cheeky: "Hola, ojos del mar, que quieres hoy?" ("Hi, blue eyes, what do you want today").

The serious looking kid with the moustache, meanwhile, would rarely utter anything more than: "Dime flaco!" ("Tell me, skinny!").

Any hesitation in giving my order would result in a lengthy wait while he served everybody else in the store, spoke to the empanada girl and swept up a bit, before finally coming back round to me with another: "Dime flaco!"

I guess I'm lucky, because I always liked the instant familiarity you get wherever you go in Venezuela. A lady friend of mine with a healthy, fuller figure was not so impressed. She never got used to people in stores saying things to her like: "Dime gorda!" ("Tell me, fatty!").

It was in my local panaderia that I made my worst ever Spanish error. Sent down by my mother-in-law to buy pan sobado , or soda bread, I made the mistake of asking for pan sobaco.

The girls behind the counter scrunched up their noses with that quizzical look that says "What?", looked at each other and then burst into fits of giggles.

Before I could reflect on my mistake they started shouting across the panaderia what the crazy gringo had just asked for, causing even more merriment from staff and customers alike.

"Que quieres flaco?" asked the coffee guy, cracking the first smile I'd ever seen on him and adding: "Ese pan que tu quieres no sabe nada bien" ("That bread you want doesn't taste nice at all").

In my confusion I had asked for "armpit bread".

I Love Arepas - Ñum Ñum

I really like this cool graphic so I thought I'd share it.

What's the point of having a blog if you don't share.

Venezuelan cacao back on TV as Willie "Raises the Bar"

Venezuelan chocolate sales in the UK are expected to get a boost after funky new logos were unveiled recently for William "Willie" Harcourt-Cooze's 100 per cent cacao products. The launch coincides with a new three-part Channel 4 series called "Raising the Bar: Willie's Chocolate Revolution" and his brand new chocolate bars, which will be sold initially in Selfridges from 1 April.

It's all about Willie now.

The dogs that featured on the old wrappers for Willie's "Venezuelan Black" criollo cacao have been replaced by the logo "Willie's Supreme Cacao" in day-glo colours that tie in with the playful spirit of the Channel 4 documentary that helped launch the products in the first place: "Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory".

There is also added emphasis on explaining how to use the product.

The labels carry the slogans "Grate in food" and "Great on food", urging consumers to experiment as Willie does by throwing a little cacao into their cooking as they might an expensive herb or spice.

The contents of the three bars remain the same: Hacienda El Tesoro is made from cocoa beans from Willie's cocoa plantation near the beach resort of Choroni, while Rio Caribe Superior and Carenero Superior are single-estate beans sourced by Willie from other haciendas.

The beans are imported directly from Venezuela and processed in Willie's chocolate factory in Tiverton, Devon.

The rebranding and repackaging designs were created by Bristol-based Taxi Studio, who have already won several awards for the designs.

As well as "Willie's Supreme Cacao" there are logos for "Willie's World Class Cacao", "Willie's Rambunctious Cacao" and "Willie's Delectable Cacao", suggesting the success of the products has injected a greater confidence in the marketing.

Willie has certainly done well, the 100 per cent cacao bars are modelled on the traditional cylinders of home-made cocoa sold from people's homes or small shops in Venezuela's cacao-producing areas as a source of extra income. In Venezuela, these are simply grated into milk and used to make hot chocolate.

By focusing on the prime quality of the cocoa beans and marketing his "Venezuelan Black" bars as a gourmet cooking ingredient, Willie has effectively introduced a brand new product into the UK market.

Buyers now see "cacao" as something separate from cocoa, and that's all down to Willie.

So it was no surprise to learn that he picked up the 2008 "Chocolate Personality of the Year" award at the Academy of Chocolate's annual prizegiving ceremony, which must have been sweet.

Willie's new Channel 4 documentary series will be shown on 7 April, 8 April and 9 April and follows the wonky entrepreneur as he produces his first real sweetened chocolate bars: the Rio Caribe Superior chocolate bar, which is 70 per cent Venezuelan cacao, and a 72 per cent Peruvian San Martin chocolate bar.

The blurb that accompanies the series makes it sound like Willie faces some stiff challenges, but there'd be no point watching otherwise:

"Will Willie get the funding and new equipment necessary to produce his new bar; can he persuade retailers to stock it; and will the public change their tastes? Can one individual, no matter how passionate, really hope to take on the chocolate giants and win?"

Well it seems he can. Priced at £3.49, the bars will go on sale at Selfridges on Oxford Street on Thursday, 2 April and interest in the launch is huge.

Already more than 1,500 people are on a waiting list for the first 3,000 bars.

Selfridges food and restaurants director, Ewan Venters, told reporters that the store has set up a new customer phone line to cope with the expected flood of orders and manage the waiting list.

"Willie's two bars will be a huge hit. This time last year his bars, which require customers to cook with them, became our food hall's fastest-selling line," he said.

Expect mayhem then when Willie visits the Selfridges food hall from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, 18 April, to sign copies of his new book "Willie's Chocolate Factory Cookbook."

The book combines recipes that use his cacao bars with the story of how he and his wife Tania bought a remote hacienda in Venezuela and started the journey that has brought him back to the UK as a famous TV star and "the nation’s most-loved chocolate chef" as Selfridges calls him.

Willie is also working on a hot cocoa drink called "Get-Up & Gocoa", which he told Waitrose's Food Illustrated magazine "will be as close to Aztec cocoa as you can get."

"The conquistador Hernan Cortes said: 'An army can march all day on one glass of chocolate'. It wasn’t until hundreds of years later that it was made into bars. I’m taking chocolate back to its roots," Willie added.

The word cacao was taken by the Spanish from the Aztec word "cacahuatl" but Aztec cocoa was very different from the hot, sweet beverage we enjoy today and was usually served frothy, cold and laced with crushed chili peppers.

Now, if Willie can get my old mum to sip an Aztec cocoa while curling up on the sofa watching his new series he really will have raised the bar.


Click here to see Willie's new Chocolate Factory Cookbook






"Venezuelan Black" is currently available in selected Waitrose supermarkets and Selfridges store in London. The website williescacao.com is currently under construction.

Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory brings Venezuelan cacao to UK

Chuao: In Search of World's Finest Cocoa Beans

Arepa and Co: The only Venezuelan food outlet in the UK