Daily News Hungary was recently invited by the Embassy of Colombia in Hungary to a cultural diplomacy event that drew diplomats and gastronomic experts to Kemenes Confectionery & Bistro for an evening centred on the Afro-descendant cuisines of Colombia’s Pacific region. The occasion, held on 14 November, formed part of Colombia’s Cultural Diplomacy Strategy and sought to present gastronomy not as folklore but as a vehicle of history, resistance and statecraft.
Embassy of Colombia in Hungary sets the tone
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Ignacio Ruiz Perea framed the event as a key moment in Colombia’s 2025 cultural promotion efforts. “What brings us together today,” he noted, “is part of the cultural diplomacy strategy of the Ministry, which aims to bring our culture closer to the world.” The Ambassador described the Pacific Ocean as “an ocean of surprises”, a region whose depth, both culinary and otherwise, remains underexplored abroad.
The ambassador highlighted the convergence of Pacific and Andean traditions, from seafood-rich coastal dishes to the famed pipián of Cauca, a peanut-based preparation folded into tamales. The evening’s menu, he emphasised, would showcase how these regional identities coexist in a single national palate.
His introduction of Chef Vanessa Lourido situated her at the crossroads of Latin American tradition and European influence. Born in Cali and raised amid both Colombian and Austrian culinary customs, she has built a career that spans restaurants in Bogotá and Cartagena, academic posts in Cali and, today, gastronomic entrepreneurship in Zurich through Queen Criolla.
Source: Embajada de Colombia en HungríaSource: Embajada de Colombia en HungríaSource: Embajada de Colombia en Hungría
K’lele: A cry of joy and the women behind the Pacific’s culinary memory
In her address, Chef Lourido explained that the guiding theme of the tasting was K’lele—a word of African origin meaning a shout of celebration. Her presentation drew on years of research into the Pacific’s sabedoras: Afro-Colombian women who preserve culinary and medicinal knowledge and whose work is prominently recognised at the Petronio Álvarez Festival.
She reminded guests of the darker historical context—more than 300,000 enslaved Africans transported to Cartagena—and of the culinary exchanges that shaped modern Pacific cuisine as communities forged refuge in regions like Chocó. The evening, she stressed, honoured these women, including her late mentor, Maura de Caldas, the first Afro-Colombian woman to own a restaurant in the country.
The menu: pacific depth, andean elevation
The tasting unfolded as a four-stage tour of the Pacific:
Pipián tamalitos – Corn dough filled with potato and peanut, wrapped in plantain leaves. Served with a mango–spinach salad and peanut chilli sauce, the dish symbolised ritual, ancestry and the agricultural ties of Cauca.
Shrimp encocado – A coconut-based preparation accompanied by crispy plantain and the aromatic azotea herbs traditionally grown on rooftop gardens by women. Their culinary and medicinal uses underscored the depth of Pacific domestic knowledge.
Pork tenderloin with chontaduro – A bridge from Pacific to Andes: tenderloin paired with chontaduro, a fruit revered for its nutritional and symbolic value, plated with coconut–saffron rice, purple cabbage and passion fruit.
Pandebono cake with arequipe and guava – A nostalgic conclusion, drawing on breakfast traditions across Colombia and reimagined here as dessert.
Hungarian wines from Sauska accompanied the dishes, adding a local diplomatic touch. The Ambassador also shared a fun fact with us: one of Sauska’s head sommeliers is of Hungarian–Colombian heritage.
Source: Embajada de Colombia en Hungría Source: Embajada de Colombia en HungríaSource: Embajada de Colombia en Hungría
Diplomatic guests and cultural exchange
The event gathered a colourfully diverse diplomatic audience. Among the guests were the Mexican Ambassador to Hungary, Rosario Asela Molinero—who recently hosted Daily News Hungary at a Día de Muertos celebration— and the Peruvian Ambassador Edgard Arturo Pérez Alván known for helping spotlight his country’s national drink Pisco through the regular Pisco Night events held at Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest. Norway’s newly appointed Ambassador, Vegard Kaale, also attended and said he is still finding his feet in Hungary and tied up with major plans until spring.
Prominent Hungarian culinary figures, including László Balogh, winner of the 2025 Cake of Hungary, and master chef Béla Prohászka, were also in attendance.
Cultural diplomacy served hot
For the Embassy of Colombia in Hungary, the evening demonstrated how gastronomy serves statecraft. The event not only introduced Budapest audiences to the Afro-Colombian Pacific but also highlighted the political and historical weight of food traditions.
Chef Lourido’s dishes brought forward narratives of migration, forced labour, resilience and creativity without romanticisation or straying from the flavours that define the region. The event showed how cuisine, when treated as cultural capital, becomes a diplomatic instrument capable of revealing the complexities of national identity.
As Colombia continues strengthening its global cultural footprint, such evenings offer more than tasting menus: they offer context, dialogue and recognition.
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