Popayán is a city of 300,000 inhabitants located in the South-west of Colombia. A university city, Popayán is best known for its colonial historic center of Hispanic heritage, where numerous celebrations take place, including that of Holy week, declared intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2009. Popayán also hosts numerous gastronomic activities aimed at promoting the flavors of the traditional cuisine of the region. Three culinary traditions lie at its origins: the roots of the pre-Columbian culture, those of African culture and the contributions of Spanish cuisine.
The richness of the traditional cuisine of Popayán not only boasts the flavors and tastes derived from old know-how, but also the symbolism, rites, legends and customs of this heritage.
As a Creative City of Gastronomy, Popayán envisages:
- Organising the XIII Gourmet Congress of Popayán in the first week of September 2015, where a foreign city and a Colombian city will be the guests of honors. In addition to gastronomy tastings from the invited cities, 40 local cuisine stands will greet, as every year, nearly thirty thousand people;
- Continuing to implement the safeguarding culinary knowledge and traditional cuisine policy, adopted recently by the Municipal Council of Popayán.