Hello, all! I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about me and Colombia last week and that you’re excited to read some more. This week, I wanted to write about one of the biggest aspects of culture and one of the most fun to explore: food. When I was awarded my Fulbright grant, one of the things I was most excited to try was the gastronomy, or cooking, of a new country. I even watched several documentaries exploring the culinary scene in big cities throughout Colombia. If you’re interested, I’d recommend episode 5 of Netflix’s series called Street Food: Latin America, which features my city of Bogotá, several popular restaurants I frequent and the histories of popular dishes here.
But until you get a chance to check that out, let me tell you a little bit about my experience! While I was excited to try new foods in general, I was also a little scared about food in a foreign country because I have Celiac disease and am therefore allergic to gluten. A lot of people here (and in the U.S., too) have never heard of gluten or just don’t know what kinds of foods contain it. Gluten is a protein found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye, which are often used to make sandwiches, pizzas, pastries, baked goods and anything with bread. These delicious treats are all no-go’s for me.
