arepa de carne, que sabe mejor...🎶
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Tell me it's not just my imagination and that song really existed (or something like that 😆).
My dear friends, I hope you are all doing well. I am following the call and invitation made by @maru2007 to celebrate World Arepa Day.
We are so VENEZUELAN that these little things and miracles of food are celebrated in every corner where a stove is lit and flavor is cooked.
I recognize the arepa as a miracle because, first, Jesus in the Bible takes the moment of eating, of sitting at the table, as the miracle of union and of his existence in that food. Without getting religious, ever since I've had my own home, I consider mealtime to be sacred, far removed from problems, technology, and things that can separate us from God. And it all starts at breakfast, with the arepa.
In this vein, the arepa is also a miracle because what would we do without it? And I'm not talking about replacing it with bread or something exotic, that's not it; I'm talking about that moment every day when we wake up and, without further ado, automatically think not about the arepa but about today's filling 😋. The arepa is that safe place that never disappoints.

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I was always #teamarepa, but after I left home, I appreciated every gram of flour invested in that dish.
My relationship with arepas began when I was a child because I didn't eat ANYTHING! Only arepas with butter and cheese. That caused me a lot of family problems because they forced me to eat other things. However, arepas were my thing, what I looked forward to most.
When I left home to study away from home at age 16, I didn't know how to make arepas. I knew how to eat them, but I didn't even know where they came from. This was significant because, since I didn't know how to cook, my parents hoped I would come back home, but that didn't happen. I set myself challenges, and one of them was to learn how to make arepas.
Today, I'm not the best arepa cook, but I enjoy every bite of them. Sometimes they turn out perfect, as if I worked in a restaurant or were worthy of photographs. Other days, they turn out stiff, watery, not round, burnt—a total disaster—but I eat them anyway because, let's face it, they taste so good that I'll eat them even on their own.
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I learned in Sucre (where I studied) that arepas are not only eaten for breakfast, but also accompany lunch and dinner. But that custom stayed there because in my house they are only eaten in the mornings.
I'll tell you that one day I was about to give up arepas. When they started distributing flour in bags, I ate them as normally as I ate my PAN flour. Well, it turns out that I had a constant, sharp headache that nothing could relieve, and my blood pressure was sky-high all the time.
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I started eliminating foods, and among those I eliminated flour. The improvement was immediate, and I thought it was all flours, but then I realized it was only that one. My allergy to those brands is so severe that I can go to a place and not know what they use to make the arepa, but the headache I get an hour later tells me that I consumed a mixture different from my traditional bread.
Currently, the only flour I consume is GLUTEN-FREE PAN, because if I consume any other type, even if it is gluten-free, it gives me a headache. Thankfully, its sale has been regulated in the country, and I always have some in my refrigerator. When it is running low, or whenever I go to the supermarket, I buy some to stock up.
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And to say goodbye, I'll show you one last trick I learned in Sucre: frying stiff arepas. It turns out that when we cook arepas, we often have a little ball of dough left over. I roast it and store it in the refrigerator. When I have three or four of them, I fry them and top them with cheese. It's delicious, and I don't waste anything! 💯 Highly recommended 😊.
Gracias por la invitación y aunque queda muy poco para terminar la iniciativa, puedes pasar por acá y ver de qué trata. Y aunque hayamos perdido el mundial de desayunos, la arepa siempre tendrá el mejor segundo lugar 😎.
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Thank you for the invitation, and although there is very little time left before the initiative ends, you can visit en to see what it is all about.
La portada, el banner y separador los hice en Canva.
El traductor que usé fue Google Traductor.
Hasta una próxima oportunidad 🌻
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The photographs are my property.
I created the cover, banner, and divider in Canva.
I used DeepL as my translator.
Until next time 🌻.