Colombia a country with two coasts, Caribbean and Pacific, and three mountain ranges, the East, West, and Central Cordilleras at the tip of the Andes, which cut off the coastal plains from the vast expanse of jungle stretching towards brazil. The deep valleys between the Cordilleras, and the separation of the lower-lying areas from each other by these ranges, are reasons for distinctive regional characteristics being commonplace in Colombian cuisine, whether it be the coconuts, tropical fruits, and fish of the Caribbean coast so well described by the novelist Gabriel García Márquez, with affinity to the cookery of venezuela, or highland dishes of the capital Bogotá, showing some of the Indian influences shared with peru, ecuador, and bolivia.
