The food in Mérida

I think the one thing I did the most in Mérida was to eat food. There's a lot of good food in Mérida, and perhaps southwestern Venezuela, that is quite different from the food you get in the eastern coast where my family lives:

Trout
Trout is farmed in the mountains near Mérida, so that's the fish they eat there. I didn't necessarily try it, though, except in pasteles.

Pasteles (Cakes)
Pasteles are the Andean empanadas. They're made with weat flour and they're small, round and fried and inside they have a traditional filling (trout, rice and ground meat, cheese and potatoes) or a more modern filling (salami and cheese, bacon and cheese, mushrooms, "Pizza", etc).

Strawberries and Cream
This is very common in mountain regions in Venezuela because Strawberries can be farmed there. You can also get strawberries with ice cream.

Andean Arepas
Arepas Andinas are similar to Venezuelan arepas, except that they're made with wheat flour and they feel and taste more like baked bread.

Blackberries
Again, blackberries can be easily grown in the cool mountains, and there's plenty of fresh blackberry juice available. There's also homemade blackberry wine that you can buy everywhere.

Pizza
The pizza is good in Mérida for some reason. It is different from American pizza since it has kept the italian tradition of making pizza. Just beware that if you like mushroom pizza it will taste different because in Venezuela, Pizza has canned mushrooms instead of fresh mushrooms.

Andean Chicha
Traditional Venezuelan chicha is a thick rice-based drink, but in Mérida it is corn-based, and with fermented pineapples and ground clovers. It tastes totally different from traditional chicha and the linking varies from person to person. I actually liked it, but I prefer the traditional chicha.