I arrived in Venezuela, South America in the early 2000’s and I took my menus and recipes with me which looking back on it now that was a big mistake, as I tried and tried to get the ingredients for making my usual yummy dishes became more and more difficult I decided to take a look at the local food and what they eat. My first sitting at an Empanada stand on the street had to be the most amazing experience of my life. I ordered 1 cheese, 1 fish and 1 chicken and cheese, when they arrived at the counter all deep fried and still sizzling I had to hold off for a few minutes so I didn’t scold my mouth but when I bit into my first empanada I fell in love immediately, so so so tasty and simple I couldn’t believe it. My next experience was my first Arepa, now this was an even bigger surprise of deliciousness because you are encouraged to make you your own with an array of 20 different fillings you can choose from and usually you can fit in maximum 3 and so I did and the experience was out of this world. What I love about these types of food is they are so simple yet unbelievably tasty. They became my daily food for more than 20 years living there and I still try and mimic them now I am back in Scotland but nothing compares to a real empanada or arepa from the street vendors in Venezuela.