Venezuelan Christmas Bazaar, Westminster Hall, 7 Dec

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without all the usual Venezuelan festive foods so the Venezuelan community in London has organized a Christmas Bazaar at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday, 7 December. There will be stalls selling all the seasonal treats you need for a feliz navidad Venezuelan style, as well as rum cocktails, traditional music, and a raffle.

Festive favourites on sale include:

Hallacas - A stew of chicken, beef, olives and capers that is stuffed into a maize dough pocket, wrapped in a banana leaf, tied with string and boiled.

Pan de Jamon - A soft bread with ham and raisins inside.

Ensalada de Gallina - A chicken and potato salad.

Pernil - Roast pork.

Ponche Crema - A creamy Christmas tipple made with condensed milk and rum.

Quesillo - Creme caramel, sometimes known as flan.

There will also be face painting and a bouncy castle for the kids to enjoy while you pick up all your Christmas-dinner essentials.

How to get there: Westminster Cathedral Hall is part of the famous Westminster Cathedral (SW1P 1QH). The entrance to the hall is in Ambrosden Avenue, which is reached from Victoria Street or Francis Street.

Venezuelan Gastronomic Fair - London, 9 March

Venezuelan food lovers should make some room for a big blowout and head down to the Irish Centre in Hammersmith on Saturday, 9 March, because the organizers of the annual Christmas Bazaar have decided to hold another massive food fair.

From noon to 6pm a variety of stalls will be selling a range of Venezuelan traditional food, from snacks like arepas and empanadas to full-on feasts of pabellon criollo, pernil (pork), asado negro (beef cooked with cane sugar until black), served with rice, fried plantains and caraotas negras (black beans).

There will be food, music and raffles for all the family, a bouncy castle and face painting for the kids, and Venezuelan-style cocktails like guarapita (passionfruit and rum) for the adults.

Stallholder Luisa Chavez, a Venezuelan who lives in London and is rightly famous for her quesillo (creme caramel) and torta de tres leches (ridiculously delicious cake), will also be bringing homemade Venezuelan queso duro blanco (hard, white cheese) to the event.

Other stallholders include Mi Cocina es Tuya and the folks from Arepa & Co, who Venezuelan food-addicts will already know from their very successful weekend stall at Camden Lock Market.

The Irish Centre is in Blacks Road, Hammersmith (W6 9TD), close to two Tube stations - the Hammersmith and City Line station and the Picadilly and Central Line station.

Venezuelan Food at Kingston Food Festival - 20-21 Oct

Venezuelan food is the star attraction at Nochia's International Food and Music Festival, 20-21 October, in Kingston Market, London, KT1 1JS. Stalls will be serving food from 12:30-17:30.

Erika Urvina and the team at Liqui Liqui foods have been cooking up a storm to prepare a proper Venezuelan spread for visitors to the Nochia International Food and Music Festival in Kingston Market this weekend.

This is the perfect opportunity to try a delicious Venezuelan-style empanada (deep-fried pasty) stuffed with pollo (chicken), domino (black beans and white cheese) queso y platano (plantain and cheese), cazon (baby shark) or chilli con carne. They will also have pepitos de pernil (pork sandwiches).

If you have a sweet tooth try one of the tortas (cakes), or a quesillo (creme caramel), all homemade to traditional Venezuelan recipes.

You can also wash your empanadas and tortas down with a drink of papelon con limon (sugarcane juice and squeezed lemons), chicha (milky rice drink) or a tizana (juice of mixed fruits),

The South London food festival will feature live music by bands such as Ant Hatcher, Fused, Stairway to Eleven, and Ethnic Fusion, alongside an equally funky fusion of ethnic foods from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Morocco, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Mexico.

For more details of the Nochia Food and Music Festival in Kingston Market click here

Feliz Navidad Con Sabor! Venezuelan Christmas

I'd like to say a massive Feliz Navidad to all those who have visited the blog and sent me their comments. Thanks so much for all your support. I promise I'll post more recipes in the New Year.

I also have to say a big thank you to Luisa and Roberto from TU-UKSABORVENEZOLANO for making my Christmas dreams come true.

Thanks to them I was able to enjoy a traditional Venezuelan Christmas dinner on 24 December with homemade ponche crema to keep out the cold, hallacas wrapped in plantain leaves, ensalada de gallina and a huge pan de jamon - with my name on it!

They also made me a wicked quesillo, Venezuela's creole version of the classic French dessert creme caramel, or flan.

All I had to do was crank up the gaitas for some traditional sounds to accompany the great Venezuelan food and drinks.

To order Venezuelan specialities in London contact Luisa or Robert on 0798-523-9852, 0795-610-1227 or 0178-424-5231 or email them at: tu-uksaborvenezolano@hotmail.co.uk