WHERE DID OUR CULINARY COME

FROM?

The culinary mixed is understood as a process of changes and modifications imposed by the confluence of the culinary autochthonous traditions, in this case, the indigenous group and the transplanted one by the Spanish immigrants, as well as, the African slaves, under the point of view of the ingredients, the technologies of boiling, cooking, the utensils and the ways of consuming the food.

THE INDIGENOUS CONTRIBUTION

The pre-Hispanic settlers at this moment were the Muiscas belonging to the family of the Chibchas, who were basing his subsistence on a mixed diet combining the agriculture with the consumption of meats.

In the moor they were dealing with the growing of tubers, in the inter Andean valleys they were growing corn and potatoes, while in the zones of moderate weather he had corn, yucca, sweet-potatoes, squash( ahuyama) and fruit trees.

The tubers, they were fundamental in the diet of this agricultural group. They had ullucos or chuguas, these were small, spherical tubers, of colors white, rose or magenta with a strong bitter flavor. Other roots were the hibias, which were looking like a carrot though more short and wrinkled, his meat was characterized for being white and firm and the skin was changing from white to red, the flavor was changing of lightly acid to sweet. The potatoes was highly consume, with the advantage of which it matures in four or five months. The crop of the arracacha, the yucca and the achira was harvest in the warm lands.

As for the cereals there was the corn considered the base of the indigenous food and dated for the year 1610 A C. and the quinoa representing the source of vegetable protein.

Equally they were sowing Cucurbitáceas as the ahuyama and the gourd (pumpkin); the curuba, the granadilla, the mammee, the guava, the uchuva, the custard apple ( chirimoya), the papaya, the avocado and the pineapple, were classifying between the fruits.

The salt, beside seasoning it was a valuable product of exchange, other spices that they were using were the chili, the guascas and the achiote that was using also as colouring. His drinks were consisting of chicha made with corn , pineapple or yucca, and waters of fruits.

MEATS. They obtained the protein of the hunt. deer, mouse, rabbit, borugo, fox, pecarí and weasel

fishing

THE SPANISH CONTRIBUTION

The Spanish contribution is represented by the Spanish inheritance by the new ingredients, including those that they were bringing in the ships and those who were sowed later.

They brought the rice, the salty meat, the sponge cake, the chick-peas, the broad beans, the lentils, the tuna, the garlic, the capers, the almonds, the olives, the oil to cook, the wine, the vinegar and the cheese.

besides these food the Spanish brought to America the wheat, the sugar, the meat of different animals as well as some vegetables like the lettuce and the cabbage, new spices like the cinnamon, the pepper, the nutmeg and the sausages, between others, enriching, of this form, the indigenous diet. The furniture that the Spanish introduced were kitchenware made of copper and pewter. The glass and the crockery also were an innovation in the New Kingdom of Granada.

THE AFRICAN CONTRIBUTION

The African contribution with the influence of the cultures of this continent that came with the slavery, and his autochthonous customs it was basically the technologies of boiling, between these the fried food and many preparations of the coastal food

GREAT VARIETY OF PLATES EXISTS IN OUR COUNTRY, PRODUCT OF THE GASTRONOMIC

MISCEGENATION

Great variety of plates exists in our country, product of the gastronomic miscegenation. Nowadays there are known the local dishes that answer this one symbiosis of these cultures, some examples would be the tamal, whose original one was a mass of corn and chili transforming then with stuffy of other products that did not exist in America. The Ajiaco became from a soup made with potato ,corn and guascas to be complemented itself with chicken, capers and cream, equally, the “ puchero”, the “ cocido” and the “sancocho” came from a soup called “olla podrida”, where there were mixed indigenous and Spanish elements

Between the elements that influenced more the American culinary it was the sugar , due to the fact that the cane found favorable climate for his growing . This product replaced in

certain form the honey used by the aborigines. The culinary Spanish woman, in this respect, enriched the

preparation of the aborigine food , not only in the variation but, also, in the flavor; they went from cooked to the baked and others techniques , it might say that they changed the versions, adding, mixing or innovating