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New York City

Arepas

An arepa is a corn cake, made on a griddle. It’s a staple of Colombian cuisine, and found elsewhere in the region. While you can certainly eat a plain corn cake, arepas are typically topped with cheese, or folded around veg or meat (or both), or stacked like a sandwich with filling in between.

I was privileged. My first arepa ever was an arepa con queso fresh off the griddle, at a street festival, early in the morning when it was still chilly out. I had swung by the office to drop off a bag of kit I was going to need later in the day, so I didn’t have to lug it around. I popped up out of a warm subway station into an early spring morning with a nip of frost in the air, and into the smell of grilling corncakes.

Of course I went where my nose led me. A street festival, that I’d missed the notice for, was setting up on the path between the subway and the office. And there, on the corner, big multiburner propane griddle set up like a movie theater popcorn machine where the scent would disperse widely, there was a man turning his first batch of arepas for the day.

I got an arepa con queso, because of course I was going to. Perfect combination of warm comfort food and an environment that encouraged it. Such a simple thing and yet so good. Arepas con queso have been a comfort food for me ever since.