Spanish (page 21)

Beginners’ Spanish I (SPAN 201): Following a Food Recipe

Fig 1. Imagen de la bandera Venezolana

I decided that I would make Cachapas which are a traditional dish from Venezuela. It is a corn pancake that can be topped with queso de mano, carne mechada (Venezuelan shredded beef) or pernil de cochino (roasted pork leg). I decided to ask my Venezuelan friend for a recipe and she kindly gave me one in both Spanish and English.

Recipe in English:

Cachapas Ingredients

  1. 1 tin of cream corn
  2. 1 tin of whole corn
  3. Corn meal

Preparation

  1. Put the 2 tins in the blender
  2. Pour on a bowl
  3. Add the corn meal to the right thickness or consistency
  4. Cook in a pan with a little butter

Recipe in Español:

Cachapas Ingredientes

  1. 1 lata de maiz en crema
  2. 1 lata de maiz dulce entero
  3. Harina de maiz

Preparación

  1. Mezclar el maiz en la licuadora 1, 2, 3
  2. Verter en un cazo
  3. Agregar arina de maiz hasta lograr la consistencia adecuada
  4. Cocinar en una sarten con un poco de mantequilla

I found it interesting reading about the origins of the cachapa. The indigenous people that inhabited Venezuela and Colombia thought of corn as “a precious gift from a divine origin”. I also learned that cachapas are “from the same family” as the arepa as they both have pre-Columbian origins.

Something that helped me understand the Spanish words the most was the cognados. For example, “crema” sounds like cream. So, because of this I was able to know that the recipe called for cream corn since I know what maiz means. I also tried to use context clues, so even though I did not know that “1 lata” meant one cup I assumed it meant that. Some words that I found di icult to guess what they were was “sarten” (which I now know as pan) and “agregar (which I now know as add).

Some words in this recipe that I recognized was “maiz” (corn), adecuada (adequate), and “mezclar” (mix). One connection that I came across between the activity and the SPAN 201 class is that I saw real life examples of cognados which is what we learnt about in the second week of class. For example, “consistencia” sounds like consistency.

Fig 2. Imagen de las cachapas que hice

References

Tamale Traditions of Latin America | Torrance Memorial

Tamales: A Rich History | Cocina

Tamale | Wikipedia

Tamales and the Tamalada: a Christmas Tradition | Library of Congress Blogs