The fist recipe I made is called Ajiaco. It is a traditional Colombian dish that comes from Medellín. It is similar to a chicken or pork stew/soup filled with a lot of different vegetables and traditional Colombian flavors.

Here is a clip from the interview with my father when he speaks about the foods he ate that were “typical” for him in growing up in Colombia.

After interviewing my father, the next step was to recreate this dish. Since there was no family recipe on it I tried to get the most authentic recipe. I used a recipe from a Colombian blogger in Spanish as I knew that it would be the closest thing to what my father ate.

Beginning to cook this dish was a little stressful. It took a lot of time and preparation. Yet when the soup was finally ready (after about eight hours) I could really taste what my father was talking about. I understood how eating this soup would defiantly bring up a sense of nostalgia for him.

Here are some photos I took in the cooking process and then the final outcome.

After eating I began to research Colombian foods in NYC. When interviewing my father, he mentioned that he gravitates towards restaurants that serve Latin American food and have some staff or are owned by Latin Americans. Growing up with my father, the traditional Colombian restaurants he would take me too were far from where I live and were located in predominately Latino neighborhoods. After researching, I found that the most authentic Colombian food is found in mostly Colombian neighborhoods specifically Queens. Furthermore, although there are Colombian restaurants in more gentrified neighborhoods the food is usually served in “tapas” form which aren’t originated from Colombia.