I haven’t talked a lot about Venezuelan cuisine mainly because I’m not a big fan. The problem that I find with most Caribbean food is that they use the same ingredients as Haitians, but prepare them in a different way. So, dishes that I would expect to taste one way, don’t. For instance, the national Venezuelan dish is called Pabellon. It consists of white rice, black beans, shredded beef or chicken, fried sweet plantains and avocados. In Haiti, we eat all of the above, but not together. Also, the black beans are prepared differently (Haitians puree them, Venezuelans boil them). The fried sweet plantains are usually eaten prior to the rice dish or not at all. We do some eat rice with avocado, but it’s more commonly eaten with polenta or with a dish called ble.

After the arepa (I will post about that later), I would venture to say that Venezuelan’s favorite snack is the empanada. I acquired the taste for

empanadas after a while because the corn meal used to make them is used for porridge in Haiti. Therefore, it always had a subtle sweetness (probably psychological) and that mixed with meat just didn’t work with my palette. Eventually the flavors began to grow on me and I now I have them a couple times a week as a mid-morning snack. Venezuelans commonly eat them for breakfast, though.

So little by little, I am building a healthy relationship with Venezuelan food; one empanada at a time.

There is definitely no shortage of bakeries here in Caracas. I can be quite picky about my tarts and croissants, so I’ve tried my fair share.

We recently celebrated my husband’s birthday and since he is not a big cake fan, I opted for a fruit tart. Okay, what really happened is I had a hard time ordering a cake in Spanish and the tart was there in the display, so I pointed to it and said “quiero ese”.

I know this was somewhat of a copout, but the tart looked really good. It was at the Pasteleria St. Honore which specializes in French pastries and their food almost looks too good to eat – almost

So, the fruit tart was a hit (this picture doesn’t do it justice). I’ve since gone back and tried the pain au raisin, as well as the pain au chocolat – both were fantastic!

Pasteleria St. Honore gets a thumbs up from me.

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