Empanadas are popular across all of South America and this savoury snack is a staple food of the South American diet. However, each country has its own way of cooking and serving the empanada and sometimes, the empanada is even given a different name, just to confuse all those tourists a little bit further.
Empanadas of Venezuela, Colombia and the Northern Countries of South America
In the northern parts of South America, the empanada is made from corn-flour (maíz) and deep-fried. Golden brown in colour, popular choices available include meat (carne), chicken (pollo), ham and cheese (jamon y queso) and in some parts egg (huevo).
In the mountainous regions of Venezuela, in cities such as Mérida in the west, trucha (trout) empanadas are also very popular and fished locally to produce some high quality munchies for many a hungry traveller to pig out on.
It is very common to see Colombians and Venezuelans eating empanadas with lots of salsa (sauce). Slap on a little spicy sauce and take a bite, then slap on some cheesey sauce and take another bite. The salsas are varied and the people in these northern countries like to take full advantage of all the different options available.
Empanadas of Bolivia and Peru
In Bolivia and Peru, the empanadas are oven-baked and made from harina de trigo (wheat flour). They also come filled with delicious combinations of meat, chicken, ham and cheese or sometimes ham and onion too.
The result is that the cooked empanada looks a lot more like a British Cornish pasty, with a similar style edging, than the northern, deep-fried corn-flour equivalent of Colombia and Venezuela.
It is very common to see the empanada offered as a starter to a menu in most restaurants (unlike the empanadas of the north, which are usually seen to be offered as road-side snacks and food sold at night to the hungry hoards of party-goers spilling out from the clubs into the night air).
In Bolivia, the empanada also changes its name. It is called a salteña in Bolivia and, again, an important part of the staple food diet of most Bolivians across the country.
The Argentine Empanada
In Argentina, the empanada is exactly the same as those served in Bolivia and Peru, made from wheat-flour and baked like a pasty in the oven. In the country´s capital, Buenos Aires, the competition is always on to produce the best empanada going and lots of people claim to have found the best place to go to have the best empanadas that the capital has to offer.
However, one place that seems to always come up top on any Argentine empanada hit-list is La Continental.
Eat Empanadas at La Continental in Buenos Aires
La Continental regularly gets the top vote for taste, price and variety. The interesting thing to note about this chain of Buenos Aires restaurants (two outlets are listed below for convenience) is that most people in the city agree that the majority of the food on offer is less than appetising. Apparently, if it weren’t for the empanadas (of which, the meat variety get the winning vote), La Continental would surely lose a lot of custom.
La Continental (Avenida Corrientes and Mario Brano), (Avenida Callao 361)
The Importance of the Empanada in South America
The clear point of note about the empanada in general, however, is that it is a very important part of the South American diet. It may vary from country to country, but its fundamental existence remains strong. A visit to South America without trying an empanada in at least one country, is like a visit to Japan without sushi - impossible!
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