Venezuela Arepas - Curacao

Monday, September 17, 2018

Our boat yard neighbor here in Curacao is Oscar and he is from Venezuela.  We met at the Friday happy hour at the marina tiki hut.  I mentioned that we had Venezuelan arepas once before in Bonaire – see here.  They were yummy.   He said “Oh, there is a really good place here.  Daily Arepas.  It is so good.  You must go.  We go all the time. ”  His fellow crew member Aussie Tom said “Awe yeahhhhh, (no really, he did say that), we go all the time.  I just love that place.”  I got Tom’s attention and had Oscar repeat it.  “Kewl, we are there” said Tom.  That evening I said to Tom, “We should tell Oscar we want to tag along next time they go.  That way we can learn all about arepas directly from a Venezuelan” 

Saturday morning came and I saw Oscar a couple of times but missed the opportunity to ask him.  Then I over heard them after lunch……they had gone for arepas that day for lunch.  Darn!  Oh well.  “Hey Oscar.  We would like to tag along next time you go for arepas.”  “Okay.  We went today for lunch.  When do you want to go?  They are not open tomorrow.”  Tom said “How about lunch Monday?” Oscar said OK.   I asked again “What is the name of the place?”  Oscar said “Daily Arepas” in his Venezuelan accent – but excellent English.   I invited our new Aussie Swiss friends on sv Perigee (David and Leanne) to tag along.

12:30’ish  Monday we all piled into 2 hire cars.  It was a short drive – 8 mins to…….DELI Arepas.  NOT Daily arepas!  It was a small place, similar to a small Subway in the US with a long deli counter on one side and 3 high top tables along the opposite wall.  Mucho take away business here.  

Oscar explained the dough is a simple cornmeal base that is grilled/fried up on a flat griddle.  This is their daily bread like tortillas are in Mexican culture and well, bread is in the French culture.  Once this cornmeal base is cooked, there is any number of fillings.  Deli arepas had many, many options.  I got the shredded chicken and white cheese.  Tom got the ground beef and yellow cheese.  Yes, that is what they ask – “Cheese?”  “Yes, please.”  White or yellow cheese?”  And a white garlic sauce that Oscar says is standard.  He has a traditional arepas Rellenos with shredded meat, black beans, yellow cheese, a touch of rice and garlic sauce. 

Leanne asked if this had Spanish origin.  No.  Arepas are tradition Venezuelan food, invented in Venezuela.  Oscar told Tom and I about a very specific arepa called the Reina with an interesting tale.  It seems beauty pageants are a really big thing in Venezuela.  “Huge!”  Back in the 1950’s a Venezuelan woman won some big beauty pageant.  I don’t know if there was a Ms Universe at that time, but I got the impression that it was something along that level.  Oscar said all of Venezuela was so proud and excited at the win.  One specific arepas shop invited and named an arepa after this pageant winner.  Reina translated sort of means dress of polka dot queen or dress of the queen.  See the winner had on a dress with polka dots.  It became a famous dress.  The arepas is chicken salad with peas…..the polka dots…..get it?  Oscar even pulled it up on his phone to show us.  

We all finished our yummy arepas and headed out for Budget Marine (of course and the grocery store), tummies full and happy and a fun story to boot.  

It turns out the real story is slightly different than Oscar told us but who cares!  It's a good story either way.
Reina Pepiada