Venezuelan or Colombian? None, experts say

The origin of one of the most popular dishes of South American cuisine, the arepa, has been a source of controversy between Venezuela and Colombia.

Both Colombians and Venezuelans claim to be the creators of this dish, considered an essential part of the culinary culture in both countries.

Who really invented the arepa? It’s complicated

To determine its origins, we must go back to the year 1492, when Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent. By then, chroniclers and archaeological data indicate that the arepa already existed and that the indigenous people prepared it with the “golden grain”, molding it into a flat and round shape.

“In our case, the first records of the arepa are after the third voyage of Christopher Columbus, after 1498, the date on which Columbus first reached the mainland when he set foot on the eastern coasts of Venezuela, especially the coasts of Paria. ”, said Ocarina Castillo, anthropologist at the Central University of Venezuela and author of the book “Los panes de esta tierra”.

The expert said that the Cumanagotos indigenous people who lived in eastern Venezuela during the time of the Spanish conquest called it “erepa.” Although these data point to a Venezuelan origin, the anthropologist explained that this interpretation is mainly linguistic.

“If Christopher Columbus had landed a few kilometers before or a few kilometers later, it would have been achieved not by Cumanagoto but by indigenous people of another culture and with another language, who would call it something else,” said the anthropologist.

Anthropologist Castillo explains that “the arepa has existed since before our countries existed. Before our limits existed, before our societies existed. The important thing about the arepa is precisely that it is an ancestral food.”

On the other hand, the Colombian anthropologist Weildler Guerra Curvelo, who was governor of La Guajira, said that the arepa was consumed in the region even before the existence of borders.

“Here we are talking about a food thousands of years old. This food was already found by the Spanish here, it was centuries old. It was the staple food of the indigenous people,” he said.

“Foods such as corn in Central America, in South America, were fundamental through many derivatives, but indigenous cuisines show us that this type of product pre-existed, that it was there before the arrival of the European and African population in the American territory. We are talking of some human inventions that are very long in time”, added Guerra Curvelo.

The role of the Venezuelan diaspora

According to official Colombian migration data, that country has welcomed the largest number of Venezuelan migrants in the world, with an estimated number of 2.48 million. This migratory phenomenon, according to some experts, has intensified the debate on the origin of the arepa.

According to Castillo, “this recent and very renewed interest in the arepa has a lot to do with the Venezuelan diaspora.”

“As in migration, in the suitcase each one of us takes his memory, his ingredients, his preparations and also takes those elements of his sensory memory that are most important to him. Indeed, migrant Venezuelans have taken in their suitcase his love for the arepa,” he added.

As Venezuelans began to migrate to neighboring Colombia, they also realized the great importance of this dish for Colombians.

Guerra Curvelo, the Colombian anthropologist, noted that the diversity of arepas in Colombia “is very great.”

“I am from La Guajira and here I can establish five types of arepas, to give examples, purple corn arepas, yellow corn arepas, white corn arepas,” he said.

Although it is difficult to determine with certainty which country the arepa originates from, it is clear that Colombia and Venezuela are not the only ones that consume the product or a similar one.

There are various breads made from corn, Castillo explained, some flat and others round. Among the plans are tortillas throughout Central America, with their variants, he indicated.

“Let’s only think of Mexico, the number of different tortillas there are and the number of varieties of corn. And how could it not be like that, if all of America is the daughter of corn, which is widespread throughout our continent,” Castillo said.

Both experts conclude that the important thing is that the arepa is an ambassador of the diverse Hispanic cultures and serves to strengthen the ties between the countries through our similarities.

“The kitchen unites us, it builds bridges, it is not that one side has passed to another. Among other things because we have territorially reconfigured ourselves over time. This Republic did not exist. There were many towns there, in this part of the north and the Caribbean in general. We have been part of the same entity”, indicated Guerra Curvelo.

“I believe that the arepa, in the binational case of Colombia and Venezuela, is a wonderful opportunity to have a dialogue of coexistence and neighborhood and peace. Also in these very difficult times that we are living through,” said Castillo.

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