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Emerging Cuisines: The Venezuelan Way

This emerging cuisine is a flavorful marriage of old-world and modern influences.

Geography partially explains why Venezuela, which covers areas as diverse as the Andes, Amazon and seashore, has such a varied cuisine.

Tropical fruits and seafood dominate the coastal areas, while corn, root vegetables and beef are staples inland. But the country's Spanish, Italian, French and African settlers, mingled with Venezuela's native population, have also had a huge culinary impact.

While some ingredients and dishes are similar to those of Colombia, Peru and Guyana—like plantains, yuca, mango and black beans—there are distinctions that define the cooking:

• Pabellon—a combination of seasoned, shredded beef, rice, black beans and fried plantains—is often referred to as the native dish.
• The beef component is "carne mechada" and resembles Cuban ropa vieja—meat that is cooked until it falls apart like "old clothes," the literal translation.
• Also noteworthy are Venezuela's distinctive single-origin chocolates and single-estate coffees.

Venezuelan Culinary Glossary:

• Polvorosa de pollo: chicken baked in flaky pastry
• Guiso: a flavoring base of stewed onions, peppers and tomatoes
• Arepas: round corn-flour buns, typically topped or filled
• Queso de mano: a handmade cheese similar to mozzarella
• Aji dulce: the Venezuelan sweet pepper

Excerpted from Restaurant Business, April 2009