Lechona at a friend's birthday party...

Lechona is by far one of my favorite Colombian dishes. It comes from the Department of Tolima and involves a whole pig – stuffed with rice, yellow peas and lots of bits of porky goodness. It is my go-to hangover meal, but i’d eat it on any given day. As with everything, there is good lechona and there is bad lechona.

I usually get mine at Carulla. Yes, I can just hear some of you gasping in horror. Carulla? The Colombian version of Publix or Kroger or Tesco or Cole’s? In other words, just your run-of-the-mill supermarket. Yes, but if you ask me, they have a pretty damn good lechona.  I don’t know who makes it or where it comes from but it’s good, not too greasy and you don’t have to look at the piggie’s head. Even Don Juan magazine agrees with me…

The lechona’s skin is crispy and delicious so long as you don’t let them microwave it – otherwise it’ll become chewy. Ask the server to heat it on the griddle and it’ll be perfect.

There are tons of places where you can get lechona and many are delicious, but convenience is key especially with Bogotá traffic. Some say that the best lechona is at the football stadium, some go to far away neighborhoods to choose from hoards of lechona hawkers, but chances are you have a Carulla  within walking distance and you can taste some of Tomila’s pride without any hassle.

There are too many Carulla’s to list addresses but if you ask around I’m sure you’ll find one nearby…