For any Venezuelan there is a lot to say about arepas; first of all let’s make it clear that they meet all the criteria to be considered “bread”. Yes arepas are a type of bread. According to the RAE (that is Real Academia Española) bread is defined as a food made from flour water and yeast or baking powder usually fried and often covered with butter or other spreads. Isn’t it funny how this definition fits perfectly with the description of an arepa?
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
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 The Frugal Chef | 2016-09-27 19:00:02 |  666,806 Views |
Venezuelan Arepas | The Frugal Chef
So what exactly are arepas? They’re flat disks made from cornmeal dough. Today they’re often made with pre-cooked cornmeal but as far back as pre-Columbian times indigenous people were grinding corn with a mortar and pestle. Even further back in time indigenous tribes were known to prepare arepas by grinding corn in stone bowls. This historical tidbit puts paid to the controversy over whether arepas are Colombian or Venezuelan as they were prepared in the region long before the concept of Venezuela or Colombia existed.
In both countries there are numerous recipes for arepas. For this post I made three of the most famous ones: the traditional arepa cooked on a budare the fried arepa and the delicious sweet arepitas that contain wheat flour panela sugar (papelon) and aniseed in addition to corn flour.
Arepas are usually filled with a variety of delicious ingredients. To fill an arepa you can carefully cut it horizontally along one side to create a pocket but be careful not to cut all the way through. This pocket allows you to fill the arepa with your favorite fillings which can vary depending on your personal taste and regional preferences.
