Ajiaco () is a

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

common to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

.Clark, Melissa (October 28, 2011)
"From Colombia, the Ultimate One-Pot Meal"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Accessed April 2016. Scholars have debated the origin of the dish. The dish is especially popular in the Colombian capital,

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, being called Ajiaco Santafereño, where it is typically made with chicken, three varieties of

potatoes The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

, and the herb '' galinsoga parviflora'', known locally as ''guasca'' or ''guascas''. In Cuba, Ajiaco is prepared as a stew, while in Peru the dish is prepared with a number of regionally specific variations.

History

The exact origin of this dish has been debated by scholars. In his book ''Lexicografia Antillana'', former president of Cuba Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso stated that the word "ajiaco" derived from "aji", the native

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

word for " hot pepper." Cuban ethnologist Fernando Ortiz stated that ajiaco was a meal typical of the Taíno, and was an appropriate metaphor for Cuba being a

melting pot A melting pot is a Monoculturalism, monocultural metaphor for a wiktionary:heterogeneous, heterogeneous society becoming more wiktionary:homogeneous, homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative bei ...

. In the Cuban city of Camagüey, the San Juan festival begins with the making and serving of ajiaco. ''La Calle'' magazine of Cuba stated that the inhabitants of the village of Santa María de Puerto del Príncipe began the tradition of making ajiaco using their own cooking ingredients, donations from passersby, surplus from farmers, and surplus slave provisions. Ajiaco is believed to have become popular in Cuba during the 16th century, particularly among rural Cubans, although it was occasionally enjoyed by the

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...

Preparation

Colombia

In the Colombian capital of

, ajiaco is a popular dish typically made with chicken, three varieties of

, and the '' Galinsoga parviflora'' herb, commonly referred to in Colombia as ''guasca'' or ''guascas'', and in the U.S., where it is considered a weed, as gallant soldier. It can be garnished with capers,

avocado The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (''Persea americana'') is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was priz ...

slices, pieces of corn on the cob, or

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

Cuba

In Cuba, ajiaco is a hearty stew made from beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, and a variety of starchy roots and

tubers Tubers are a type of enlarged structure that plants use as storage organs for nutrients, derived from stems or roots. Tubers help plants perennate (survive winter or dry months), provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reprod ...

classified as ''viandas''.Garth, Hanna. 2013 Food and Identity in the Caribbean. Bloomsbury Press.

Peru

In Peru, ajiaco is a quite different dish of potatoes cooked with garlic, a mix of dried yellow and red chilies (aji mirasol and aji panca), hierba buena, and huacatay, generally accompanied by rice and stewed chicken or rabbit.

Chile

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, ajiaco is a food of northern origin, it contains beef, onion, carrot and paprika, garlic and colored chili, potatoes and seasonings, powdered rib broth and

coriander Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae. Most people perceive the ...

/parsley.

References

External links

* {{Potato dishes Colombian soups Cuban soups Latin American cuisine Peruvian soups Potato dishes Stews