Museli and milk for breakfast? Give me fried pork rind instead!

"Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and Dinner like a Pauper".

We've all heard the phrase before and are frequently told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But why is that true?

Looking at its name, it should all become a little obvious - you are quite literally breaking the fast you undertake during your nights sleep. I don't know about you, but I rarely go for more than 6 hours without eating. So when I wake up, I'm always pretty hungry! And to all you non-breakfast eaters out there, did you know it's you lot who are more likely to be reaching for the high sugar and fatty snacks mid-morning? So...wake up well, and get your breakfast on!

BidmeadBites strikes lucky - one free breakfast coming my way

I was lucky enough to win myself a free breakfast at La Tiendacita, a well-loved local joint here in Barranquilla which serves only the most typical costeño food. I won through a competition on Instagram, in which I had to name three of my favorite things about my beloved Barranquilla. What did I pick? The people, La Troja (the epitome of the city and my favorite salsa club - check out my post on it here) and of course, the food!

A typical morning meal here in Colombia is not to be taken lightly - and I mean that very literally. That is to say, granola and yogurt it is not. Think meaty, cheesy things, fried pastries and what for us might seem more like lunch or dinner options: rice, meat, even stews are all fair cop for this Colombian morning munch.

La Tiendacita itself is a really cool place, with two different branches within the city. The walls are adorned with local phrases, some of which I shall share with you here,

Tronco de pajarilla - a load of bullshit

Cogela suave - take it easy (the phrase of Barranquilla)

Mi llave - my best friend
Fria - a beer

Your typical Barranquillero slang. Don't go shouting these at your granny though, as a lot of vulgarity is involved!

Ever find yourself on the coast of Colombia, be sure to try some of these out - your cara de gringo will certainly be reassessed! For breakfast, an array of typical bites were on offer. Fritos (think tasty fried pasty-style things) are particularly popular, as arepas, empanadas and the delicious cheesy fingers deditos all feature as part of a Colombian breakfast. 

Finger-licking fritos, next to a huge pot of chicharrón

My complimentary breakfast consisted of an enormous portion chicharrón (fried pork rind cooked in its own fat), boiled yucca (a root vegetable), both served with some of the typical costeño condiment suero, which is a bit like sour cream. Served with some corozo juice (a small dark berry, somewhat like a cranberry), I opted for an extra cheesy dedito on the side - as if there wasn't enough food to begin with!

Behold the Barranquilla Breakfast - not for the faint hearted!

This was a breakfast fit for a king. As I stared down at my plate, over-flowing with meat, carb, and its creamy dipping sauce, I started to wonder if the extra dedito hadn't been just a bit ambitious. However, with pork as good as this, with its perfect contrast of the crispy, salty skin against the melt in your mouth soft, flavorsome meat, it was no hard feat to finish it all. I love yucca served like this, with its slightly sweet taste somewhat similar to sweet potato. Dipped into the creamy suero, it was the perfect carby accompaniment. Even the unnecessary dedito was a treat - tangy costeño cheese wrapped in a rich, buttery pastry case.

I enjoyed the wonderful company of the waiters as I plowed through my breakfast, and was entertained with tales of the city while learning more costeño slang. About 45 minutes later, to the sheer disbelief of the waiters, I had consumed every morsel on my plate. Yes, I was full, but actually pleasantly so. However...without over sharing, I'd say fried pork for breakfast isn't the kindest thing on the old digestive track. But it's sure to say I was fueled for the day ahead, and definitely didn't need any form of elevenses.

My 'before' breakfast picture. But believe I ate it all!

Eating at La Tiendacita is more than just the food - it really is a cultural experience. People come here when they want their own taste of home, just like their mum and grandma used to make. However for this inglesa, whose mother and gran cooked more of your typically British roast chicken than Colombian champús (the not so tasty thick drink made from corn, pineapple, and other ingredients, tried on my trip to Cali), it is a chance to further learn about some real Barranquilla's traditions. And if their typical breakfast means it's okay to consume crispy fried pork before 1 pm, I am all game.

Exotic fruits and glorious juice

Fruit here in Colombia is really quite something.  Lulo, nispero, zapote, granadllia, uchuva...ring any bells? These are just some of the new fruits I've discovered during my time here.

Sliced up and eaten as snacks, served as toppings for breakfast or as parts of delicious desserts, the sheer variety of fruit here means there is no excuse not to be filling up on these vitamin-rich, natural sweet treats. Or, why not drink up the wonderful array of fruits at one of the various fruteras around the city?

Just check out the frito selection here at Los Compadres. No fruit or veg to be seen, but that's where the juices come in!

Fruteras here sell not only delicious juices, but also offer up those tasty and much loved fritos. Empandas, carimañolas, deditos, arepas, patacones...essentially just an awful lot of very delicious (and very beige) food. Here is a quick rundown of some of my favourite fruteras so far.

Frutera Los Compadres (Calle 74 entre Carreras 46 y 47)

Los Compadres sauce collection - gucamole, garlic, various chilli sauces : they've got it all. 

Perhaps one of the most famous fruteras in Barranquilla, Los Compadres has a firm fan following, and is visited as much by busy workers in the morning as it is by tired and tipsy party goers at night. The range of fritos is immense, and I'm slowly working my way through them all. I also like that here you can buy portions of flavoured rice, which invariably come with either meat or chicken.

Frutera El Compadre (Calle 79 y Calle 76)

When my sister came to visit, I felt it only right to introduce her to the wonders of fruteras, and so together we headed to El Compadre, another famous spot in the city. I opted for some meat empanadas and she went for the classic dedito (cheese finger) and a little baked spinach pastry. We washed down our snacks with some delicious and exotic juices en leche (with milk). The brown juice is nispero, which has a distinctly nutty flavour, and the pink juice is zapote, which I believe tastes like a mix between carrot and strawberry...but really it's unlike anything else I've tried before!

Zapote juice (left), nispero juice (right), with my sister's veggie goods on the left and my meat-filled goodness on the right.

Frutera Fruticao (Calle 93 Carrera 49c)

And I remember the days when freshly squeezed orange juice seemed like a treat!

A lot of fruteras prepare their juices in advance to have them ready for order, but at Frutticao they make them as you order, meaning you can skip the enthusiastic servings of extra sugar often added. You also have the option of different types of milk (they haven't quite reached the soya option yet, but skimmed is on offer). Serving only a few fritos, this place is really all about the juice, and as you can see from the list below - there's quite the selection to choose from.

Fruteras are the perfect place to stop for a quick juice and bite to eat, at all hours of the day. I continue on the quest to find the best spot in the city, although mixed opinions may have me searching a long time!

Enough fritos, give me that green

Colombian food, while delicious, could hardly be praised for its health giving properties. I love myself some deep fried fish and plantain as much as the next person, but it's definitely not food to be eaten every day. And for those days when I'm feeling a little greener than others, Barranquilla has a surprisingly wide range of healthy-eat places to choose from.

A delicious bali salad bowl, with cabbage, beansprouts, grated carrot and onion, shredded chicken breat, served in a burrito bowl, next to a very refreshing carrot and ginger juice.

Gokela (Calle 84 Cra 55) is a chain with restaurants in Cartagena and Bogota, and thankfully has also touched down in Barranquilla. Almost like a healthier Subway but with far more options, it offers sandwiches, wraps, salads, rice bowls (like this delicious one pictured above), as well as healthy sweet treats and a great range of juices.

Healthy pancakes topped with peanut butter and strawberry

Basil ( 51B#82-100 Palmas Mall) describes itself as a 'gourmet healthy restaurant', and also has its own health food store attached. Offering dishes such as ceviche, quinoa sushi and protein 'cake', it caters to the health-conscious Colombian while also providing interesting and flavoursome dishes. I went with a friend for breakfast and chose these cracking pancakes made with oat and coconut flour mixed with chia seeds, and I topped them with peanut butter and strawberries. A great combo and a brilliant way to start the day.

My green energy juice. Like a coffee, just a bit green

Aswell as an incredible array of fruit juices, in Barranquilla you can also grab some great green veggie juices, found at Freshii (Carrera 53 # 76-279). This was a ‘green energy' juice: apple, cucumber, lime, carrot, lettuce and spinach. Refreshing, full of goodness and a nice change from the quite often overly sweet fruit juices found here. Their menu also has great vegetarian and gluten-free food, and you can get good offers on selected dishes of the day, costing under 10,000 pesos.

Eating healthily, you'll live longer...good thing chocolate and sweets are all part of a balanced diet! 

With all this healthy food around, Barranquilla proves itself to be the best of both worlds. A great place to enjoy the best of typical costeño food, you can also get your veggie/health food fare whenever you want it. So have your tres leches cake and eat it, with a bit of healthy green on the side.

Offally Good Stuff

Read any guide book that refers to Barranquilla, and you probably won't be stopping by. Often referred to as 'just a stop on the way to the far more agreeable Cartagena or Santa Marta' (Lonely Planet direct quote), Barranquilla is not one of the coast's touristic hot spots.

Oh so many beautiful...apartment blocks?

But for that, I love it. Barranquilla is a real coastal Colombian town, where the local phrase is 'cogerla suave',  meaning take it easy (unless you're from a Spanish-speaking country where coger has quite a different, naughtier meaning, but we'll ignore that for now). Life is relaxed, and people like to dance, spend time with friends and generally enjoy themselves. And what better way to enjoy yourself then a night out on the town, dancing away to the sound of salsa.

La Troja - a Barranquilla Landmark.

La Troja is a Barranquilla institution and was described perfectly by a friend here as 'an attack on the senses'. It's loud, bright and crowded - and an incredible amount of fun. Playing purely salsa, if you're looking for an authentic barranquillero night out, this is the place to come. The crowd is mixed, and you're just as likely to find a group of young ex-pats here as you are a solitary salsa-dancing senior. It's the kind of 'anything goes' type of place, which makes me love where I live.

A few beers down...

Perhaps another one of my main draws to La Troja is the atmosphere around it. If you can't grab a table inside, head out to the off-licence in front, where there is always a massive crowd chatting, dancing, and generally soaking up the salsa. Also surrounding it are an array of street food stands. While the majority might head for a simple chuzo en palo (meat skewer with potato), the more adventurous of us head elsewhere.

Think of it as a Colombian late-night Maccy D's.

You'll find me at El Piqueteadero, where my love of all things meat has found its match. Forget your typical Friday night drunken kebab, because here the party-goers late night food of choice comes in the form of pigs ear, lung, intestine, tongue...if it's a piece of meat you'd never consider eating, you're likely to find it here, deep fried and served alongside tiny boiled potatoes.

Cutting up some tongue,with a bit of intensine to the side and lung infront.

These often neglected parts of meat are known as offal (or 'variety meats') in English and visceras in Spanish. The term offal refers to just organ meats, but can also be used to describe cuts such as ear and tongue. There are two different types of offal, labelled either 'red' or 'white'. Offal such as liver, heart, tongue, lungs, kidney and spleen are labelled as red, due to the fact these parts are more 'meat' like. Cuts such as intestines, stomach, brains, and sweetbreads come under the white category, due to their appearance and slightly more foreign taste and texture.

No donner kebab here I'm afraid.

However, be it red or white, the idea of eating an animal's insides seems to creep a few people out. But listen up meat eaters. If you're perfectly happy to buy a pre-packaged, pumped up chicken breast in the supermarket yet squirm at the idea of getting down to the butchers and buying some blood sausage, I'd have a second think. In this day and age we don't need to eat meat. We can find all the necessary protein and vitamins we need through other sources, and the process of feeding animals reared for meat creates an enormous amount of pollution. There's also of course the ethics behind it all, but I don't feel this post quite warrants discussion on that. If we choose to continually kill animals for food, I think it is important to make full use of the meat available. A great documentary on the meat industry is Get Vegucated, and if you want to know more on the topic I really recommend it. 

                               

If you'd eat a sirloin or rump steak, you're eating a cow's arse. I ask...how far is that from eating its kidney or liver? Or, if your like me and want to try it all, opt for some black pudding (morcilla), pig ear, sheep lung (bofe), cow tongue, a sausage called longaniza and intenstine. Well...at least that´s what my bowl from El Piqueteadero consisted of.

My picada, a little bit of everything.

While it was good to try it all, I established a few things. This was not the finest black pudding I had eaten, pig's ear is surprisingly delicious, lung isn't my favourite, and tongue is almost too much like a normal cut of meat to even earn it's offal status. I´ve now visited La Troja on numerous occasions, and even if not to eat there I will always pass by and have a chat at El Piqueteadero. Perhaps it's odd that I'm now a recognised face at the fried offal stand, but otherwise how would I check out the variety of odd things on offer, and know what is still left to try? As it stands, testicles and cow udder is my next nibble of choice. Stay tuned for that!

Bollocks in a bowl. Well, not quite, but on the list for the next time!

Stomach soup, fried pig ears and building roofs - and it's only lunchtime!

'Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper'. Or, if in Colombia...just eat lunch. Because here, lunch is not to be taken lightly, both in the figurative and literal sense. The typical almuerzo corrientazo (lunch offer) consists of a side of soup, rice, either beans or lentils, possibly plantain or yucca, a salad and a piece of meat or fish.The price will range from COP 5,000-10,000 (£1.50-£3.00). This makes this midday meal a great way to sample the local cuisine without breaking the bank. Here's a look at some of my recents lunchtime eats here in Barranquilla.

I've found myself in a few comedores (cheap eat places) where a health and safety officer might have a heart attack, but as I'm still standing to tell the tale and continuing to seek out these places, I'd say the dubious state of hygiene only adds to their rustic charm.

Who needs a kitchen when you have some pots on the street?

Tatuzmo is probably 'rustic charm' personified. This cornerside comedor, with it's thatched roof and outdoor kitchen, is about as low-frills are you can get. The speciality here is soups, which all come accompanied with rice and agua panela (sugar cane water).

Sopa de Mondongo

Each soup comes served in a bowl of totuma - the dried and hollowed out shell of the fruit from the totuma tree. The photo above is an enormous bowl of mondongo - tripe soup. Now this may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I absolutely adore this dish. And given that it's a delicacy here I'd say that's not just my weird offal-loving self speaking either. This whole meal cost COP 6,000 and is the best mondongo I have ever had (but ssssshh....just don't tell Juan Miguel. If you don't know who he is, check out my previous post). To anyone over here in Barranquilla, this place is a must visit. Find it at Carrera 56 # 49.

'The city centre....is inhabited by wild street commerce - it's actually one market stretching to the river like a flatttened shanty town'. Welcome to my city! This extract comes from a Lonely Planet guide to Colombia, and it is indeed true - the city centre of Barranquilla is a lot like mayhem. But those people who endure its chaotic streets, merciless bus drivers and general disorder will be rewarded.

Food in the centre has character, personality, and quite frankly I'll take that over sterile, soulless chains serving me my food in air conditioned shopping centres any day. From every fresh fruit under the sun to fried pig ears (really), if you're looking for a bit of excitement this is the place to go. On my most recent trip into town, I was on a mission to find the best almuerzo around. Upon recommendation, I headed to Osteria Yeimar for a corrientazo.

Osteria translates as oyster bar, but given that this is downtown Barranquilla, it was less oyster bar and more fisherman's shack. But a very fine fisherman's shack, serving everything from cocteles de camaron (special seafood cups, not alcoholic cocktails) and cazuelas of seafood, which are gorgeous seafood stews. I opted for the set lunch, but when choosing my fish, my Spanish failed me - I was left clueless as to what anything on offer actually was. Not to worry, as the owner simply took me to the kitchen to select whatever fish I fancied.

I went for the mojarra, and while I'm still unsure of an English translation, all I can say is it was a good choice. A meaty fish with not too many bones, it came whole and deep fried, accompanied by coconut rice, patacones and salad. When having to choose between a typical costeño lunch in the heart of the 'wild street commerce' and a Subway sandwich in a shopping centre? You know where to find me.

Osteria Yeimar, Cra 43 Calle 34, centro.

The ever-smiling Ede

Ede works in our school, and her general job is to keep everything clean, everyone happy, and as a side - well fed. With Ede you can order your own almuerzo corrientazo straight to the staff room, for the wonderful price of COP 5,000. Below is pollo guisado (chicken in a tomato based sauce), coconut rice, yuca and avocado salad. The soup on the side is mote de queso - a typically costeño cheese and yam based soup.

Aswell as teaching at my school, I've also spent a fair bit of time at our nearby university taking dance classes. It's a huge university which offers up a wide array of places for students and staff to grab a bite to eat. You can dine at one of the fancier restaurants on campus, or, of course, grab a corrientazo. One particularly good place is called Rancho Norte, just outside the uni. 

This was carne gusiada (beef in a tomato sauce) with white rice, black eyed beans, salad and plantain, Oh, and should be leaving hungry, there's chips too. The soup is actually sopa de hueso, which is bone soup. If you think of it as just a tasty meat stock (which it is), the weird sounding name shouldn't phase you. That enormous jug of drink is all for me, and is iced tea, which is very popular here. A sad moment when I was first offered 'tea' and thought I had landed in a country that drunk tea like the brits. Perhaps, but theirs is ice cold with tons of sugar. PG tips : I miss you.

 Here in Colombia I've been working with a charity called Techo, which means roof in English. Techo is an organisation which helps build emergency housing for people living in substandard housing throughout Latin America. I work in the area of detection, and each Sunday we visit certain neighbourhoods to carry out interviews with families.Through these interviews we then assess the needs of each family, and from there assign housing to those in most need. It's an incredible charity, and if you want to find out more click here.  

The families who receive emergency housing are obliged to provide a percentage of the cost for the housing. As a means of raising this money, after one of our visits to a neighbourhood in nearby Galapa, we were all invited by a family to a delicious almuerzo.

This lunch consisted of a lentil, plantain, yucca and beef soup, which came alongside pollo guisado, rice and salad. It was a really tasty lunch and just what we wanted after a tiring yet rewarding mornings work. The price we paid for the lunch all went as a contribution to the families portion of the cost for their new housing. 

Happy volunteers on a Sunday visit to La immaculada, Galapa.

Aswell as leaving satisfied and well-fed, it was great to know we were also able to be a part of the families fund-raising efforts for their new home. 

From stomach soup to the wild city centre and it's fried pig ears (but far more enticing fried fish), to cheese soup and being part of a families fundraising efforts, you've caught a glimpse into lunch in Colombia. It is a time to take a break from the day, sit back and enjoy a proper meal. And I like this way of living a lot. How many people eat lunch at their desk? How many people have skipped lunch, due to a lack of time? Take a note out of Colombia's book, and eat lunch. And plenty of it too!

Bidmead in Barranquilla

I write this current post to you from Barranquilla, Colombia, otherwise know as my new home while I work over here as an English language teacher. Situated on the Caribbean coast, Barranquilla is known for its roaring carnival in February, which is Latin America´s second largest after Rio. Other than that, despite it being Colombia's fourth busiest city, Barranquilla isn´t that highly rated as a must-see attraction in the country as a whole. While it might lack the metropolitan vibe that Medellín has become renowned for, or the sheer size of Bogotá, its kinda got its own thing going on. People from the coast, aptly named costeños, are happy, smiley, friendly people, and since I arrived just over three weeks ago I've received nothing but kindness from these great Barranquilleros. And it´s not just kindness I've received, because oh boy...do these people know how to eat!

Flag of Barranquilla

Before coming to Colombia, I´d heard mixed reviews in regards to the cuisine. While some people told me it was wonderful, I´d also received a fair few lukewarm to negative reviews of the food. What could I expect? As someone who wholeheartedly embraces all new cuisines, intestines and all (quite literally), I felt ready to sample the comida of Colombia!

And you know what? I am beyond thrilled. Colombia is particularly interesting in its cuisine, as what is available depends so much on the region you find yourself in.

Bandeja Pisa

Land into Medellín, located in the Antioquia region, and you'll find Bandeja Pisa on the menu. Not a dish to be taken lightly, it consists of (prepare yourself) - beans, rice, shredded beef, pork belly, chorizo, fried egg, plantain, tomato sauce...not something to be approached with anything less than a roaring hambre. 

Caught up in Columbia's chilly capital, Bogotá, you're likely to find many places selling Ajiaco, a warming chicken soup with no less than 3 types of potato, capers and cream.

Ajiaco a la Bogatano

But what's everyone comiendo aqui en la costa? An obvious start is fish. Fresh and plentiful here by the sea, it is served fried, accompanied with arroz de coco (coconut rice) and patacones, which are fried plantain rounds. The saltyness of the fish, accompanied by the sweetness of the rice and plantain is an absolute delight - a must-try dish for anyone around this part of the country. I was lucky enough to experience it home-cooked by a woman living in Puerto Colombia, a port town just north of Barranquilla, and it is something I will be having again very soon!

Gracias a la Señora Elizabeth por este plato tan rico!

Breakfast here in Colombia is fairly different to UK standards. Again it depends massively on whereabouts in the country you are, but so far fried chicken, pork belly, rice, plantain and soup (to name just a few things) have all managed to make their way onto my breakfast plate. I was lucky enough to have been provided with buffet breakfasts during work training in Bogotá and Barranquilla when I first arrived, which gave me a great chance to sample many of Colombia´s desayuno delights.

Hayaca, fajita, arepa con huevo, empanada y bollo. 

Hallaca, the banana-leaf covered item above, is a yucca based dough which inside has chicken, onions and raisins. Just above that is a chicken fajita, and the large circular beige item is an arepa con huevo - a cornmeal based patty, filled with an egg inside. Below the arepa is the half moon shaped empanada, a treat found across south-america but different wherever you go. Think of a pasty, Latin American style, and you're half way there.The circular thing to the right of that is bollo, which can be made from yucca, cornmeal or fresh corn (mazorca).

Will I ever be able to eat just porridge again?

While this plate above might look like a filling lunch or dinner to most readers, I'll let you know this was a yet another breakfast, with the classic caldito (soup) on the side - apparently it helps a hangover better than any painkiller! Again we have empanadas and bollo, a skewer of chorizo, some ham, pan de bono (cheese rolls), and calentado, which is a fantastic mixture of rice, beans, shredded meat and plantain. All accompanied by fresh watermelon juice and cafe con leche. If you thought an full English breakfast was good, think again, because the Colombians here seem to have done one better!

Moving onto dinner, there are some great restaurants here in Barranquilla. Given that it is a port town, Barranquilla has received a wide array of immigrants into the city over the past 200 years, which has resulted in many foreign foods merging with the traditional Colombian fare. A particularly middle-eastern influx into the city can be noted in the large amount of Arabic parillas (grills) that you can find dotted around. For a girl who lived in the bountiful land of beef that is Argentina, this is obviously music to my ears.

Parillada Completa at Zahle´s

Eating at Zahle, a highly recommended and well priced middle-eastern restaurant in the north of the city, I shared a parrillada completa. It came with various cuts of beef, chicken and chorizo, accompanied by yucca fries and a baked potato and suero (sour cream). Behind is a mixed mezze, with stuffed aubergines and cabbage leaves, chicken rice and a tabbouleh salad. 

This is but a mere peek into my first tastes of Colombian food, and every day I am trying new food, asking almost everyone I encounter what there is still to try, what they recommend, and if I can come and cook with their grandmas (really. I've had two invites so far!). So please stay tuned, and join me as I journey around this beautiful country, filled with wonderful people, and absolutely delicious food. 

Hasta la Proxima!