The flavors of Venezuela

Venezuelan food is built on corn, beans, and plantain — a culinary trio that anchors everything from street breakfasts to elaborate Sunday lunches. The arepa is the national staple: a thick corn flatbread griddled and stuffed with cheese, shredded beef, black beans, or anything else available. Every Venezuelan household has its own recipe.

The pabellón criollo is the national dish — shredded beef (carne mechada), black beans (caraotas negras), white rice, and sweet plantains on a single plate. It is simultaneously humble and deeply satisfying, and the best versions are found not in restaurants but in the comedores (informal lunch spots) that dot every Venezuelan town.

Venezuela also grows some of the world's finest cacao and coffee, though both are frustratingly underexported. Single-origin Venezuelan chocolate and micro-roasted mountain coffee are available in speciality shops in Caracas and Mérida, and increasingly finding their way onto international menus.

• Arepa: the national staple — griddled, baked, or fried, stuffed with everything
• Pabellón criollo: the complete Venezuelan plate in one dish
• Hallacas: the traditional Christmas dish, wrapped in plantain leaf
• Tequeños: cheese-filled dough sticks, served at every Venezuelan gathering
• Venezuelan cacao: some of the finest in the world, grown in Barlovento and Choroní