With actress Zoe Saldana of Avatar fame in the lead as Colombiana, it is a great time to discuss the history of the Afro-Colombian.  It is amazing the number of people who have no perception of Latino as Black also.  Colombiana will help to expand some horizons. People of African descent have been in Colombia for 500 years. Colombia is the third country outside of Africa with the higest black population in the world..

In the spirit of the wedding season, let’s explore the tradition of Black Cake.

The cashew nut is a popular snack, and its rich flavor means that it is often eaten on its own, lightly salted or sugared. Cashew nuts are sold covered in chocolate, but less often than the cheaper peanuts and almonds.

One of the most important religious celebrations in Latin America is Holy Week, known as Semana Santa. The celebrations begin on Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos) and continues through Good Thursday (Jueves Santo), Good Friday (Viernes Santo), and finally Easter Sunday (Pascua or Domingo de Resurrección).

Gallo pinto (or gallo pinto) is the prototypical traditional dish of Nicaraguan and Costa Rican cuisine. It is considered the national dish of these two countries, and is eaten as a part of any meal, although mostly for breakfast. Though many variations exist, the dish at its most basic is composed of pre-cooked rice and beans fried together.

He is widely regarded among football experts and former players as one of the greatest football players of all time.  

In his native Brazil, Pelé is hailed as a national hero. He is known for his accomplishments and contributions to the game of football.He is also acknowledged for his vocal support of policies to improve the social conditions of the poor (when he scored his 1,000th goal he dedicated it to the poor children of Brazil). During his career, he became known as "The King of Football."

A near universal condiment on tables in Chilean restaurants and homes is pebre, which is made of herbs, olive oil, vinegar, chili and chives. Unlike salsas, which are served on the side, pebre is introduced to stews and hearty soups to provide extra kick as well as spooned over steaks and seafood. Contrary to what the country's spicy name might suggest, chili peppers are not consumed with the same frequency or used in as many applications as they are throughout Mexico. Chilean desserts often employ a variety of fruits or manjar, a very sweet spread made from boiled milk and sugar and similar in taste to caramel. Desserts in the south have a distinct German influence, for example, kuchen, a fruit flan.

The Humboldt Current causes a dizzying array of seafood and shellfish to amass off the coast. Popular dishes that take advantage of this bounty include caldillo de congrio, a stew made of conger eel and vegetables, as well as ostiones a la parmesana, scallops on the shell in melted butter and grilled Parmesan. Ceviches from the fresh catch of the day and seafood empanadas are often the tasty starters in many Chilean restaurants. Abalone, sea urchin, squid, swordfish and tuna regularly are on the menu, served in a wide range of presentations from raw to grilled.

Argentina’s Independence Day is celebrated on the 9th of July of every year. Before Europeans occupied Argentina, the land was heavily populated by Native American tribes and bordered the rich Inca Empire. In 1502 Amerigo Vespucci arrived in the country and by 1580 Buenos Aires had become a Spanish Colony.

Brazilians tend to prefer simple breakfast comprising of coffee, milk, bread and jam, sometimes cheese and ham, with fresh fruit also. There may be mangoes, papayas, watermelons and avocado cream in addition to all those. The side dishes may vary with the city you are dwelling in.

For the history and traditions of Latin Weddings, there is a great website called Worldly Weddings.  If you ever find yourself stepping outside the box of your cultural traditions or marrying inter-culturally then Wordly Weddings  is the place to go on the web for various cultural norm info.

The Latino wedding reception is family oriented and festive. For the bridal couple's first dance, guests will gather in a heart-shaped ring at the reception around the couple. Salsa, merengue, mambo, flamenco, and samba music add a festive Latin flare to the reception. For appetizers, try pasteles, Puerto Rican meat patties, or empanadas, Colombian pastries stuffed with meat and vegetables. Spanish tapas make perfect appetizers. Other must-have dishes include rice and beans, paella, arroz con pollo or chicken with rice, and fried plantains.

"With the information to which we have access at this moment, there are fortunately no personal tragedies amongst our employees and their families. However we have already been able to assess serious damage to some of our main wineries which are located in the worst affected areas. This includes important loss in wine and production capacity. A more detailed assessment of the exact magnitude of these damages is currently being completed.

Bandeja Paisa origin was influenced by several different cultures that inhabited Colombia throughout the centuries, including the Indigenous peoples of Colombia, as well as colonial Spaniards and Africans. In the 19th century, there was presence of French and British colonialists who brought their cuisine with them.

The current form and presentation of the Paisa Platter is relatively recent. There are no references in the food writing about this dish before 1950. It is probably, an interpretation of the local restaurants of simpler peasant dishes. One of its most prominent features is the juxtaposition of native american and European ingredients, which is also observed in other mestizo dishes of Latin American cuisine, such as venezuelan Pabellón criollo or Costa Rican Gallo Pinto.

Traditional Dominican Republic food is very tasty and includes a diverse selection.

One of our best known meals, lovingly named “la bandera” (the flag) consists of white rice, beans, meat, vegetables and fritos verdes (green plantains or tostones).

The Dominican Sancocho is a cooking imitative of the Spanish cocido (stew), and each region of the country has its special way of preparing it.