As I sit in a Colombian restaurant in the Jackson Heights neighborhood in the New York borough of Queens, waiting for my ajiaco, I cannot stop thinking about the times that I used to spend with my grandmother in the countryside. I clearly remember her smell, mixed with smoke from a wood stove and the delightful ajiaco she would cook.
Ajiaco santafereño is one of the most traditional dishes of Colombian cuisine. It is primarily a recipe from the Andean region of my country. This soup is a very popular dish in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, and is usually prepared on special occasions such as the visit of a beloved family member, a celebration for someone appreciated by the family and other family gatherings. In some homes this dish is chosen as Christmas dinner.
It is hard to describe its flavor, but try to imaging a soup that takes four or five hours to make. It has three types of potatoes from the Andean region, corn on the cob, scallions, garlic, cilantro, guascas (Galinsoga parviflora, an herb from the Andes), avocado, capers and chicken breast. It is a hearty soup that is capable of raising the dead, an orgasmic pleasure to the palate. (I never told that to my granny).
If you ever feel down or depressed, this soup will solve all your problems; it will take you to heaven and back. If I were a member of FIFA I would make this soup a mandatory meal for all soccer players. They would have the energy necessary to run more than the 90 minutes of each game.
My soup is finally here, and I am ready to devour it and have it evoke the moments that I spent with my grandmother in that small house nestled in the mountains in Colombia. I am ready to remember those wonderful Sundays that I spent with my family back in Bogotá, sitting around the television watching the World Cup and waiting impatiently for the ajiaco to be ready. That smell is tattooed on my brain, the same way I remember the smells from the Andes.
Ajiaco is an elixir. Do not let your life go by without trying this orgasmic soup. Once you have it, you will never forget it.