Arepas are everyday sandwiches of Venezuela - Arepas

“If your typical sandwich means lean turkey and Alpine Lace on Pepperidge Farm slices, think of that as a third grader practicing on her first recorder. Arepas at Orinoco are a smoking hot calypso band at Carnival. White bread they are not.

Arepas are unleavened corn flour flatbreads from the northern Andes in South America. At the tiny, 1 1/2-year-old Venezuelan restaurant in the South End, they’re slapped together by hand and come out looking like pale yellow English muffins branded with deep, dark grill marks. They’re split open and stuffed with stewed meats, sharp cheeses, and spicy slow-cooked black beans. Like most staple foods, arepas are chewy and appealingly bland, but with an unmistakable toasty corn flavor and a subtle smokiness. Orinoco’s chef Carlos Rodriguez makes about 100 a day and offers them with 10 different fillings. He says, “Once people have arepas, it’s all they want.”

Popular in Venezuela and Columbia, arepas are also common in Mexico, where they are stuck with the name gorditas (little fat ones), and in El Salvador, where they are served with pickled cabbage relish and called pupusas. Rodriguez says that Venezuelans eat arepas at most meals. “It’s our everyday stuff. Like the French are with their baguettes, we Venezuelans are born with arepas under our arms. Arepas are for any time of year, any time of day, day in and day out, and for anybody - rich or poor or in between. Arepas are the great equalizer.”"

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