Valentina Ospina

I was born in El Poblado and grew up watching Medellín transform from the city the world feared into the city the world now visits. Medellín's food culture is built around bandeja paisa — the enormous Antioquian platter of beans, rice, chicharrón, chorizo, fried egg and avocado that is the emblematic dish of this region — and the mercados and tiendas of the Laureles and Envigado neighbourhoods where locals buy their food. The city's café culture is extraordinary: this is the region that produces some of Colombia's best coffee and the specialty café scene in El Poblado is world-class.