Welcome to the Nutrition Diva Podcast. I'm your host, Monica Reinagel.

Today's episode is the second in a series that I'm doing on the nutritional aspects of

different global cuisines. Last month, we talked with Dietitian Vendana Sheth about traditional

Indian food and diets. And today, we're going to continue our exploration of nutrition around

the world with a tour of Colombian cuisine. Unless you've actually spent time in Colombia

yourself, I think there are a few things in today's episode that are going to surprise you.

Joining me to talk about this is Sandra Arevalo. She's a registered dietitian nutritionist and an

expert on Latino culture and health. Sandra grew up in Colombia and emigrated to the United States as

a young adult. And she currently serves as the director of community and patient education at

Montefiori Naya Hospital, as well as a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Welcome to the podcast, Sandra. Thanks so much for joining me today. Of course. Thank you for

this opportunity to talk about Colombian cuisine. So I think a lot of North Americans aren't

terribly familiar with Colombian cuisine. It's not one of the so-called ethnic cuisines that

become very widespread in the United States. So first, just give us an idea for those of us

who are not familiar. What are some of those characteristic hallmarks of traditional Colombian cuisine?

Well, first of all, let me clarify, you know, usually just for Colombia being in Latin America,

people have this misconception that we eat hot spicy foods, right? I think that they influx

of Mexico in the United States is obviously pretty high. And we don't necessarily eat spicy foods.

That's, you know, most of the time the first surprise that people have, Colombia food is not

spicy. It's very savory and flavorful, but not spicy. And another of their characteristics is

that in Colombia, we have a huge abundance of foods depending on the climate. So even though,

you know, we are near the Ecuador. Most people also think that because the country is near,

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