Celebrate World Arepa Day, London, 14 September

Saturday, 14 September is Arepazo Mundial - World Arepa Day - and food stalls and restaurants all over the world will be celebrating the staple food of Venezuela by cooking up arepas (cornbread buns) of all shapes and sizes, stuffed with all manner of tasty fillings.

 

              The Arepazo Mundial brings together all Venezuelans - wherever they may be - in an act of gastronomic unity, and this year is no exception. If you want to join in the celebrations in London, head for the Guasacaca food stall in London's Acklam Village Market, off Portobello Road (W10), which will be serving a full spread of arepas to delight all tastes from 11 am to 6 pm.

The guys at Guasacaca have also organized a special day of Latin music and dancing, courtesy of London radio station Latina Network, that will include live music, salsa classes and other surprises.

For those new to the arepa, these disc-shaped cornbread buns are big enough to hold in two hands and can be eaten plain or with butter. More typically, they are opened up like a pocket and stuffed with savoury fillings, such as shredded beef, black beans, grated cheese, avocado and chicken, or any combination that takes your fancy.

The must-try arepa filling they sell at Guasacaca is the Reina Pepiada, a lip-smacking combination of shredded chicken, mashed avocado, mayonnaise and peas.

Not surprisingly for Venezuela - famous for the stunning beauty of its lady folk - the Reina Pepiada is named after local lovely Susana Dujim, who won Miss World in 1955.

The Reina Pepiada is popular with Venezuelan party-goers who like to end a big night out with something sticky, savoury and filling (a sort of South American version of the donor kebab).

But whatever filling you try, don't forget to add the final flourish, a dollop of tasty guasaca sauce, made with avocados, or a spicy splash of picante hot sauce.

All arepas cost £5 and you can mix and match any of the fillings on the menu.

For the young Venezuelans who run the stall, David Gutierrez, Irua Dugarte, Andrea Villalba and Andres Gonzalez, the Arepazo Mundial is an excellent opportunity to spread the word about Venezuelan food and convert more people to the flavours of their homeland.

Acklam Village Market (W10 5TY) is one of the coolest street food markets in London, a place to feed your face after a morning browsing the antique stalls and vintage clothes shops of Portobello Road. A recent visitor to the stall is none other than British Prime Minister David Cameron (see photo below).

The Guasacaca stall is in front of a laid back bar with tables and sofas where you can sip a beer and listen to live music while tucking into the international street food on offer from the various stalls. On Saturday, expect live music and dancing events organized by Latina Network, a London-based radio station that broadcasts news and music for the Latin American community.

How to get there: Take the Tube to Ladbroke Grove on the Hammersmith and City or Circle Lines and then cross the street and walk straight on until you get to the market entrance. Alternatively go to Notting Hill Gate on the Central Line and make your way down Portobello Road to Acklam Road.

 

 

To find out more about the arepazo in London go on Twitter - #ArepazoMundial #DíaInternacionalDeLaArepa @GUASACACALONDON @latinanetwork

Venezuelan Diplomatico Wins Top Rum Award

Venezuelan rum got a well-deserved accolade recently when Diplomatico's Reserva Exclusiva was voted the second best of 50 rums at a blind tasting in New York City by a selection committee of 21 journalists, bartenders and aficionados.

Blended by a maestro ronero and aged for 12 years in charred white-oak barrels in a place called Miel in the wilds of Lara State, Ron Diplomatico Exclusiva has a rich, warm, buttery flavour of molasses and is perfect for sipping.

The top four rums awarded a double gold medal in the best 50 list were:
1. Vizcaya VXOP (Dominican Republic)
2. Ron Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva (Venezuela)
2. Tortuga 12 years (Cayman Islands)
3. Zaya 12 years (Trinidad & Tobago)

For the full list click here

For instructions on how to enjoy the powerful coffee-granules-and-rum experience known as El Ritual click here

Venezuelan rums on sale in UK

British drinkers are picking up a taste for the caramel flavours and superior quality of dark Venezuelan rums, especially now they are becoming more freely available in the UK.

Santa Teresa's aged rum Añejo is an excellent example of a quality sipping rum that also works in cocktails and sells for £14.99 at the supermarket chain Waitrose.

Pampero's Ron Añejo Especial is another good choice and sells for £17.99 at Tesco supermarkets.

All we need now are some more cocktail recipes:

Venezuelan Rum Cocktail Recipe: El Ritual

Ponche Crema - Venezuelan Xmas in a glass

December is here and it's time to break out the glasses and share a cordial round of Ponche Crema, Venezuela's most typical festive drink.

Made from alcohol, milk, egg-whites, sugar and a few a closely-guarded secret ingredients, Ponche Crema has been infusing Venezuelan family gatherings with Christmas spirit since Eliodoro Gonzalez P. first came up with the concoction in 1900.

It wasn't the first ponche ever invented, as Venezuelans had been making their own home recipes of milk, sugar and rum (even cognac in some cases) for years and continue to do so today, but Don Eliodoro's Ponche Crema had the distinction of becoming a household name and a national tradition.

A chemist, perfumer and tireless entrepreneur, Don Eliodoro really hit the jackpot with his Ponche Crema, which was so popular when it first came out that the president of the republic, Cipriano Castro, personally signed the patent for it on 17 March 1904.

Not content with local glory, Eliodoro then took his patented cream punch on a tour of the great fairs of the United States and Europe. It was a smash in London, where it won the "Grand Prix" at the 1908 fair, and was received with accolades at the Saint Louis World Fair in Missouri, the International Maritime Exhibit in Bordeaux and the Food and Hygiene Exhibit in Paris, the capital of fashion and taste at the time.

A commentator wrote afterwards: "With the same confidence in his dreams he felt like a Columbus in reverse: he wanted to conquer the Old World, the ancient and arrogant Europe. For this endeavour he did not need an army, nor religion, nor violence, and even less the useless promise of gold... A little milk, eggs, sugar and a 'touch' of alcohol would be all he neded to amaze those who, with the sheer passage of time, had lost faith."

Don Eliodoro died on 29 January, 1923, with his place in Venezuela's culinary history firmly established. The secret of his punch was passed on to his relatives, known as the Successors of Eliodoro Gonzalez P.

They have continued to produce Ponche Crema in exactly the same way to the present day and it is now exported to Miami and New York in the USA, the Canary Islands, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Saint Marteen, Antigua and Saint Thomas.

Today, only four people are entrusted with the secret - which many have tried to copy but which none have bettered - and the company is keen to stress that the famous recipe is the best kept industrial secret in the world.

Whatever Ponche Crema contains, served over ice in punch glasses this exotic eggnog definitely hits the spot.

The company's slogan is "Navidad es compartir!" ("Christmas is for sharing") and in my experience Ponche Crema is the one thing guaranteed to bring the family together and get otherwise straight-laced tios and tias shaking their stuff to the latest reggaeton tracks following the traditional Christmas meal, held late on 24 December.

As a friend once said to me after I turned down a glass of the sweet, Bailey's like drink: "No tienes miedo pana. Bebetelo! Es nacional y hoy es navidad!" ("Don't be scared, mate. Drink it up! It's a national drink and today is Christmas!").

Before I knew it I was doing my best(?!) Daddy Yankee impression while elderly auntie Caridad showed off her "perreo" and everybody stood round and clapped.

That's what I call a feliz navidad. Gracias por exisitir Don Eliodoro Gonzalez Poleo.

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 silicone enhancements who 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