El Festival del Pastel: A Cultural Event
Puerto Rican food is the best food in the entire world, don’t lie to yourself, you know it’s true. We’ve got everything you could ever wish for, especially during the Holidays season. The classic arroz con gandules, guineitos en escabeche, ensalada de coditos, ensalada de papas, tostones (my personal favorite), tembleque, flan, lechón, and many more. Probably the highlight of the Holidays season is the pasteles. Pasteles are a staple in our culture and something we look forward to every Holiday season, even though we can eat them year-round there’s just something magical about eating them during Christmas. For those of you who don’t know, pasteles are like burritos but are made with masa that is normally made with plantains, pumpkins, potatoes and sometimes yuca and then stuffed with a mix of meats or vegetables. No pasas, please. After, they are wrapped in plantain leaves, boiled and are ready to be eaten.
Since pasteles are such a staple in our culture, and we Puerto Ricans love to celebrate everything regarding our exquisite culture, there should be no surprise that we have a festival dedicated completely to this food. The festival is held in Orocovis, the heart of Puerto Rico, and probably the most beautiful of all the municipios. It is a great time, there is a lot of food cooked with love, artesanias to support our local artists, music, and lots and lots and lots of pasteles. My family is from Orocovis, so I have spent a lot of time there and going to the Festival became a family tradition. It is held the weekend after Thanksgiving and it lasts from Saturday to Sunday. It is held at the town near the placita of Orocovis. For obvious reasons, thanks Maria, the Festival was not held in 2017 so this was the big return. In all of my years of going to this festival, I had never seen so many people there. So many people that the lines didn’t die down and one of the kiosks ran out of pasteles. That happened. It made me happy because so many people were coming to find this gem of a town and the wonders of the Festival del Pastel. Support local businesses!
It is a good time to spend with family and friends, so if you ever have a chance to wander down to Orocovis to eat as many pasteles as your heart desires, please do so. There are so many hidden gems all around Puerto Rico, just get out there and find them.