Cachapa

Cachapa is a Venezuelan dish of fresh corn batter cooked on a budare, a flat griddle, into a thick, slightly lumpy pancake. Rooted in the country's indigenous food traditions, it remains one of the most representative dishes of Venezuelan cuisine.

History

Accounts place its origins in pre-Columbian times, when indigenous peoples ground corn by hand and cooked it over their fires. Many link it to the Chaima people of eastern Venezuela. A Chaima-language dictionary held in the Archivo de Indias in Seville records the word kachapa for a sweet arepa made without milk or the later creole additions.

Over time the recipe gained milk, sugar or papelón, butter and salt, and cooks increasingly used tender sweet corn rather than dried maize. Today pre-made versions are sold refrigerated or as flour mixes that need only water, milk and oil.

Similar preparations exist elsewhere. In Costa Rica, chorreadas have been made since the Spanish colonial period, and related corn cakes appear under many names across Latin America.

Culture

Cachapas are eaten throughout Venezuela, both at roadside stands and in formal restaurants. They are usually folded in half, served with plenty of butter or margarine, and filled to taste with hand-made cheese, soft white queso guayanés or cebú, ham, shredded beef, or fried pork rind. In some areas they are called cachapa de budare.

Preparation varies by region. Traditionally they are made from ground yellow maize or tender white corn, and the batter should be a thick, grainy cream before it goes onto the griddle. A derived dish, gratén de cachapa, is topped with béchamel, cheese and butter and baked.

In Venezuela the word also names the shops that sell them and, in a derogatory slang use, lesbians. That second meaning is informal and unrelated to the dish.