Bounty in a Bowl

Colombia’s beloved national dish

by Max Krafft, for O.A.T.

The cuisine of Colombia is as varied as its landscape. On the Caribbean Coast—in cities like Cartagena—the local people have long thrived off the bounty of the sea, as well as tropical fruits like bananas and coconuts that flourish in their warm climate. Farther inland, in the fertile and mountainous region around Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, meat, corn, and potatoes are the culinary staples, and the latter come in a variety of species, some of which are found only in Colombia’s Andean plains.

The most famous dish of Bogotá—and perhaps of Colombian cuisine as a whole—is its eponymous chicken, corn, and potato soup, ajiaco bogotano (also known as ajiaco santafereño). Commonly called ajiaco, this stew-like soup features three kinds of potatoes—red, yellow, and white—one of which, papas criollas, is a variety of yellow potato found only in the Andes Mountains. These tiny potatoes—around one inch in diameter—have a thin skin and buttery interior, and when cooked to make ajiaco, they dissolve into the broth, helping to give the soup its signature creamy texture.

The second most important ingredient in ajiaco—and the one that’s said to really give the soup its distinctive flavor—is guasca. This aromatic herb—indigenous to Colombia—now grows throughout the Americas, but it is still commonly used only in South American cooking, as it’s generally considered to be an invasive weed in other parts of the world.

The third notable feature of this soup is the large chunks of corn on the cob that are left whole in the broth. The variety of corn (more properly called maize) used in Colombia is slightly tougher than the sweet corn that is common in the U.S.

Finally, the name ajiaco itself is thought to come from the native Taino people’s word for “hot pepper,” ají, which today is the generic word for spicy peppers in South America (similar to chile in Mexico). While peppers are notably absent from the soup, it is almost always served with aji picante (a Colombian hot sauce) on the side, as well as crema (Latin American table cream), capers, and slices of avocado—all of which should be added to suit the diner's individual tastes. White rice sometimes accompanies the soup on the side, as well.

While other soups are served alongside an entrée as part of a normal Colombian lunch (the biggest meal of the day), ajiaco is such a filling dish that it is usually served as a meal in its own right. Rich enough for celebrations but delicious enough to eat any day, whatever the setting, ajiaco bogotano earns its place as the national dish of Colombia.

Colombia’s beloved national dish

• Colombia's Colonial Jewels & the Coffee Triangle

Home of the Cafeteros: Colombia’s Coffee Triangle

by Tom Lepisto, for Dispatches

Far removed from the big-city bustle of Bogotá and Medellin, a serene landscape of lush green hills rolls across Colombia’s rural highlands. Here, the air is refreshingly clean and the elevation of 4,000 to 7,000 feet above sea level moderates the heat and humidity of the tropics. Commonly called the “Coffee Triangle,” the special character of this pastoral region led to its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—the “Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia”—in 2011. But perhaps it is best described by its Spanish name: Eje Cafetero, meaning the “coffee-growers’ axis.”

It is an agricultural expanse that includes the Colombian departments of Caldas, Risaralda, and Quindío in the west-central part of the country, surrounding their respective capitals of Manizales, Pereira, and Armenia. Since these cities form more of a north-to-south line than a true triangle, the Spanish name is apt, and doubly so since this area is home to tens of thousands of cafeteros (coffee growers).

A land of family fincas
To the east of the Eje Cafetero rise volcanic mountains topped by the snow-capped 17,457-foot peak of Nevado del Ruiz. Although those Andean heights are not visible from the valleys where the coffee is grown, the fertile soil created by ash from their past eruptions has made this one of the best places in the world for cultivating coffee. So if you have even the slightest appreciation for a great cup of joe, this is the place to see where it originates. And while this part of Colombia offers beautiful vistas, a look into the heart of the country’s coffee-growing industry, and colorful expressions of rural culture, very few American travelers have yet ventured here—so that local people still get excited at the unusual sight of an American visitor.

Many of these local people are members of families that have been cultivating coffee for generations. They live in the countryside on fincas (farms or plantations) that average about five acres in area, with some 95% of Colombia’s coffee farms being less than twelve acres in size. There are about 500,000 of these small operations in the country as a whole, and their relatively modest scale has made it possible for coffee growing to remain a family-centered activity here.

On a typical finca, carefully tended rows of coffee trees snake across the hillsides from a hacienda—the main house—that is a focal point of the plantation. Traditionally the residence of the family that owns the finca, many historic haciendas have Spanish Colonial architectural features, from their tile roofs to their central courtyards. The facilities where coffee tree seedlings are raised and where harvested beans are brought in for hulling, washing, drying, and packing are usually located within a short walk from the hacienda.

Why you need a Jeep to make Colombian coffee
On many fincas in the Eje Cafetero, one common sight is a small fleet of World War II-style Willys Jeeps. Although the icon of Colombian coffee is Juan Valdez transporting sacks of coffee beans on his donkey Conchita, the use of pack animals represents the practices of an earlier time. In the post-WWII era, the Coffee Triangle’s cafeteros found that 4x4 vehicles gave them more rapid access to the rugged terrain where the coffee grows.

Jeeps were originally brought to Colombia by the military, but it didn’t take the farmers long to notice their usefulness. So the typical coffee-picker today heads out on a bumpy ride along rough, hilly roads in a vehicle he calls a yipao—the local term for Jeeps that have been adapted for use on coffee fincas.

With a dash of Latin American verve, some residents of the Coffee Triangle’s Quindío department celebrate the role that their yipaos play in their lives with periodic parades. These feature vehicles painted in bright colors and festooned with decorative small statues, with some competing to see which yipao can carry the biggest load—whether it be sacks of coffee, bunches of plantains, or a precariously tall stack of wooden furniture. A record-setting parade in the town of Calarcá, in Quindío outside of Armenia, featured some 370 of these vehicles.

Back at work, the yipaos make many trips from the hacienda to every corner of the plantation as the cafeteros plant, tend, and harvest the coffee trees that produce the approximately 2,600 pounds of beans per year that come from a typical small plantation—an output that requires picking more than five million “cherries” (as ripe red coffee beans are called). Like any form of agriculture, coffee cultivation requires regular attention to fertilization, weeds, pests, and diseases, so the farmers are always keeping an eye on the trees. And the harvest is particularly demanding, because all the beans on a coffee tree do not ripen at the same time. On many of the Coffee Triangle’s small plantations, the owners are committed to producing coffee of the best quality by ensuring that only beans at the ideal stage of ripeness are picked, which can require more than a dozen visits per year to the same tree. Multiply that by thousands of trees—and you can see that these cafeteros have their work cut out for them. And in the Coffee Triangle, it is the local people who work in the fields doing the harvesting, not migrant workers from other countries.

Keeping it “100% Colombian”
To ensure that the economic benefits of all this effort remain with the Colombians who perform it, in 1927 the country’s coffee farmers formed the Colombian Coffee Grower’s Federation (Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, FNC for short). This nationwide community of cafeteros has branches in each of the country’s coffee-growing departments—including the Coffee Triangle’s Caldas, Risaralda, and Quindío—and blends a family-centered, Latin American sensibility with the business needs of a modern agricultural industry, such as branding, marketing, research, and quality control.

Most Americans recognize Juan Valdez, who, though fictional, is the international face of the FNC and whose image is a logo used to mark the authenticity of coffee from Colombia. Portrayed in advertising for many years by actor Carlos Sánchez, a real cafetero from just west of the Coffee Triangle, the Valdez icon has helped Colombia’s coffee farmers by maintaining the distinction between their product and coffee grown in other parts of the world. Live actors continue to play Juan Valdez at various coffee-related locations in Colombia today, including the Colombian National Coffee Park near Armenia, although somewhat ironically, “Valdez” is not a particularly common name in Colombia.

The FNC’s accomplishments go far beyond making Juan Valdez famous, however. Its success at supporting its members in areas from scientific agricultural research to establishing consistent size and quality standards for coffee beans has become a model for other coffee-growing countries around the world. Most of all, the FNC has given Colombia’s coffee growers the strength of working together—extending the community spirit of a rural Colombian village to a national scale and helping local farmers compete in a global marketplace. And that is something that the hard-working cafeteros of the Coffee Triangle appreciate as they pick each ripe “cherry.”

A tale of three cities
While coffee-growing has become the defining activity in the Eje Cafetero since the late 19th century, the region’s history goes back to pre-colonial times, when this area was inhabited by the indigenous Quimbaya people. Their culture reached a peak between the fourth and seventh centuries AD, a period when they created impressive gold artifacts, some of which are on display in the Gold Museum in Bogotá. They were also skilled workers of guadua, a South American type of bamboo that is still used for crafts and construction.

Spanish settlement of the region began in 1540 with the establishment of the town of Cartago, near present-day Pereira. The three cities that define the “triangle” today originated in the 19th century. Pereira was founded in 1863, but its name harkens back to earlier in the century when Simón Bolivar was leading campaigns for independence in Spain’s South American colonies. Two brothers, Manuel and José Francisco Pereira, had fought for Bolivar, but had to take refuge in the Colombian hills following a defeat in an 1816 battle. In Pereira’s central plaza today, Bolivar is also remembered with a statue that combines historical reverence with a bit of Latin American sensuality—the Bolívar desnudo, which portrays the great liberator nude, riding on horseback.

Manizales, founded in 1849, is the highest—at 7,000 feet—and hilliest of the “triangle’s” three points. It is home to six colleges and universities, including the National University of Colombia and the University of Manizales, and includes some 30,000 students in its total population of about 440,000. The city’s hilly topography gives it a remarkable range of microclimates, where it’s frequently possible to go from warm, sunny weather to cooler, rainier conditions within a short distance.

Armenia, established in 1889, is the southernmost point of the “triangle” and the smallest of the three cities, with a population of about 330,000. Like many Colombians, Armenia’s residents have a passion for beauty pageants, and they have put a regional spin on one they hold each October which is well-known across the country: The Chapoleras Festival. This celebration, which commemorates the founding of the city, includes a competition in which contestants wear traditional dresses and carry baskets of local crops including coffee and orchids.

The best is in the countryside
Although each of the principal cities of the Coffee Triangle contributes to the region’s history and culture, many travelers find that the essence of the Eje Cafetero lies in the rural countryside and the small villages nestled in the hills. Outside of Armenia, Salento is one such place, a town of tile-roofed buildings where children play volleyball between the houses and verdant hillsides rise at the end of many local streets. In the town center, artisans sell totumos—dried, hollowed gourds colorfully painted and made into maracas or decorative objects. And as you might expect, it is easy to find a coffee shop here, where you’ll often encounter skilled practitioners of “latte art.” This is the technique of turning the milk foam atop a cup of fine Colombian coffee into designs that range from intricate abstract curves to an amazingly realistic dog or even a human face.

Salento is also the starting point for excursions into the Corcora Valley to experience the natural side of Quindío’s tropical landscape. A ride in an open-topped yipao, allowing for unobstructed views of the many shades of green that carpet the hilly terrain, brings visitors to a part of the valley that is protected as a national park. Here, high in the watershed of the Quindío River, a short hike will bring you to the tallest palm trees in the world: wax palms, Colombia’s national tree. They can grow to be 200 feet tall, and are being conserved here after having nearly been rendered extinct by being cut down in times past for use on Palm Sunday.

From its natural endowments to the distinctive way of life of its cafeteros, the Coffee Triangle is a truly remarkable part of Colombia. And beyond the geographic Eje Cafetero, there is another kind of “coffee triangle” in the form of three commitments made by the Colombians who live in this verdant region: To sustain the family values of the coffee-farming tradition, to maintain the high quality of the coffee crop itself, and to participate in the national community represented by the FCN for the advancement of their country’s well-being. And at a time when the people of Colombia are looking toward their future with both humility and hope, that might just give them a solid three-legged foundation for achieving their dreams.

• Colombia's Colonial Jewels & the Coffee Triangle