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Hallacas: A Special Venezuelan Dish Felix from Venezuela Photo: Perke Flickr Creative Commons photo This dish is not served in restaurants in Japan. Mothers usually cook it, and each family has its own version. Venezuelan people usually cook a special dish in December. It is called hallacas. This dish is made of ground corn, meat, and vegetables. The meat can be pork, beef or chicken. Everything—the corn, meat, and vegetables—is wrapped in banana leaves. Almost all Venezuelan families prepare this very special dish before Christmas. The families share great times and enjoy eating Hallacas the whole month of December. It is a tradition to eat this dish on the 24th of December, which is like an Thanksgiving day. In the countryside, people also prepare a Ponche, a beverage made of milk, eggs, sugar, and alcohol. This beverage is enjoyed as an accompaniment of Hallaca on those special days in December.  How to Make Hallacas Learn how to make Venezuelan hallacas by watching two YouTube videos (In Spanish and English). YouTube by awcesq How to make Venezuelan Hallacas Watch this family make hayacas. (In Spanish and English. ) YouTube by Goodbayrum Hallaca Venezolana Watch another family make them. (In Spanish!) Return to: Global Tastes | A World of Food | Home Page TOPICS Online Magazine ©1997-2008 - Sandy and Thomas Peters - topics.mag@gmail.com