Panama’s Caravana: An International Taste Treat

Panama’s Caravana presents to tastes of the world only a short drive from Coronado. Every year for 48 years the Caravan of Social Assistance of Diplomatic and Panamanian Ladies has presented the “Fiesta Alredador del Mundo,” commonly known as Caravana. The cost of entry was $3 and half of your ticket went into a raffle. Caravana is the main source of money that the group raises for charity. This year’s edition of Caravana was Thursday, October 08, 2009, at the Atlapa Convention Center in Panama City where 37 nations vied in a friendly competition to sell the tastiest food, wine, beer, and coffee. Chilean wines competed with Italian and Bolivian beer with Nicaraguan and German. At Caravana you had your choice of Nicaraguan Pasqualina stuffed pastries and Greek baklava for starters and then the taste treats of only 35 more kiosks to sample.

Patricia Langan-Torell, the Canadian Ambassador, was helping sell Sheppard’s Pie with a maple leaf design while a German lady was substituting in the Irish booth and doing better with answering to “Guten Tag” than “Hi, how are the Irish today?” The Russian booth was staffed by very blond ladies in ethnic Russian costume answering appropriately to “Por Ruski?” A huge sombrero held down a corner of the Mexican concession and the Costa Rican kiosk was touting their coffee.
 
Going to Caravan before lunch is a good idea, unless you are really serious about dieting. The representatives of the various nations appear to take the matter of presenting attractive and delicious native dishes very seriously. Such items as the baklava at the Greek booth were pretty much sold out by mid day. A special find for someone who has never been able to find any sirope de arce (maple syrup) in Panama were the small bottles of pure maple syrup at the Canadian booth next to the stuffed “Mounty” bear which was next to the Seagram’s VO and the Sheppard’s pie, and the ambassador.

The choice of Swiss chocolate versus the Austrian Bundt cake was especially difficult for this reporter but, luckily, there is no legal limit to how much you can sample at Caravana. The main problem at Caravana is that if you arrive too late some of the tastiest items are sold out.

Caravana is not limited to food. Beautiful craft items graced many kiosks and the music was live all day long. The sad part is that it is another year until Caravana, the chance to sample empanadas filled with platano, and restock on pure Canadian maple syrup.