Colombian Cooking Night

Last week, I attended a cooking demo hosted by the Colombian Embassy for the ladies of Willkommen in Berlin. Last Friday Evening, I had the pleasure of attending a party hosted for bloggers and Colombians living in Berlin. This is all a part of their Colombian food festival. I love how they are doing it in bite sized events that are more intimate and ultimately more memorable for all the lucky guests.

The idea of the event is to present a cooking book from Colombia (“Colombia, Cooking by Regions” – Maria Lía Neira Restrepo) and to show how to do the recipes with ingredients one can find here in Germany. Diana Garcia of Restaurante Diana Garcia Chef en Movimiento was one of the chefs featured in the book. She was flown in together with Chef Magda Hamon who, like Diana,  studied at the prestigious Institute for Culinary in New York, to wow us with their incredible food.

I loved the party venue in Neukolln, with all it’s quirky touches and interior design. The place was packed and we headed straight for the bar when we arrived (liquid courage is always helpful when meeting new people) and saw German Chef Ralf of Foodamentalist manning the bar.

Food streamed in delicious little bites from the kitchen and we were able to talk to the chefs, who prepared it, as they went around the room. Isn’t it so fantastic when the chefs themselves can tell you about your next scrumptious bite? It is such an honour and a treat for us guests. Check out Diana Garcia plating with German Chefs Kai and Robert, who are also with Foodamentalist.

We Colombians are fortunate in having decanted a cuisine full of enchantments. Our cuisine, rooted in times gone by, is an inheritance from loving hands, doubtless moved by surprising sensibility.

Regionals meals, by their very essence and because of their embodiment of the social spirit, represent heritable treasure in the quality of the ingredients involved in their confection, and in the wisdom of joyful hands that have known how to merge flavors, scent and colors.

There was so much more food, but I wasn’t able to take a picture of everything. Most were gobbled up before I remembered my camera. Oopsies. The chicharones were my favourite – crunchy and succulent at the same time.

And these scallops with green rice! OMG #foodgasm

We also enjoyed some delicious desserts!

We met so many interesting people that night and made some new friends. It was easy to talk to different people with the nice intimate atmosphere of the party, the intoxicating food and delicious drinks! I love the venue of Foodamentalist!

I met co-author of Collidoscope Berlin blog and “the blogger’s boyfriend” which is how he charmingly introduced himself LOL. What a sweet couple. Must meet up soon!

We also met some guests from Slow Food Berlin. How awesome is that? Shame I didn’t get a picture of them! I get really excited when I meet fellow foodies and bloggers.

I want to thank the Colombian Ambassador’s wife for inviting me to this event. I feel so lucky to have had Colombian Food twice in one week! Before these events, I’ve never had Colombian food and now I can say I am a total fan.  It was love at first bite for sure! The ingredients and flavours are so different and interesting. My taste buds and tummy thank everyone involved in the Colombian Food Festival!

Have you ever tried Colombian food? What do you think is a must-try? Drop me a line below.

*All photos without watermark are credited to Ana Heilbron/Colombian Embassy.

 

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RELATED LINKS:

• Colombian Food Cooking Demo with Willkommen in Berlin
• Chef Diana Garcia’s Restaurant in Colombia
• Foodamentalist’s Catering Services in Berlin
• Colombian Embassy in Berlin
• Foodamentalist Party Venue