A FOOD TRADITION

Wayuu Cuisine

Wayuu cuisine belongs to the Indigenous Wayuu people of the Guajira Peninsula, a cultural region divided between Venezuela and Colombia. Foodways adapt to an arid environment and rely on goats, maize, beans, cassava, fishing, shellfish, and gathered or drought-tolerant plants. Goat meat may be stewed, roasted, or dried, while maize is ground into doughs and drinks; coastal communities add fish and mollusks. Recognizable examples include friche, a seasoned goat-offal preparation; goat stews served with maize or cassava; and dishes of dried or salted fish from the peninsula’s coast. Wayuu cuisine should be catalogued as a transborder Indigenous tradition, not assigned exclusively to Venezuela.

Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.