Documentary Series Integrates U.S. Pork, Beef into Colombian Culinary Traditions
The USMEF-produced series celebrates Colombia’s regional culinary traditions while featuring local recipes made with U.S. pork and beef.
As U.S. pork and beef become more visible to Colombian consumers at retail and foodservice, market development efforts are accelerating to promote high-quality U.S. product in popular local dishes. In a rich culinary landscape featuring unique regional preferences, USMEF has developed a new branding initiative that celebrates Colombian culinary traditions while highlighting how high-quality U.S. red meat can enhance local dishes.
USMEF kicked off the branding initiative with a documentary series that transports audiences through six different regions in Colombia. The six-part series, called Extranjeramente Criollo ‒which roughly translates to “foreign yet native” ‒ also demonstrates how U.S. pork and beef can be integrated into these regional cuisines.
“The series was developed to grow awareness and interest in U.S. beef and U.S. pork among the trade, but especially with consumers,” says USMEF Colombia Representative María Ruíz. “Each episode focuses on a different region and how U.S. red meat can be authentically incorporated into that region’s local recipes.”
The documentary series follows USMEF Chef Nicolás Diáz as he visits with local producers, chefs and restaurants. Regional recipes are celebrated and prepared with U.S. pork and beef, highlighting its quality and versatility while reinforcing a culturally rooted message for Colombian audiences. In these outer regions of Colombia, the series also functions as marketing support for USMEF’s meat merchandisers as they work to develop new opportunities for U.S. pork and beef in foodservice and retail.
USMEF’s Colombia office previewed a recap video of the series at a May launch event in Bogotá. Attending were U.S. meat importers, restaurateurs and chefs, foodservice partners, media outlets, gastronomic influencers, and several representatives of the U.S. Embassy and USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. The video included highlights of Chef Diaz’s journey as he explored the cultural and culinary richness of iconic Colombian destinations such as Antioquia, the Coffee Region, Boyacá, Santander, Bolívar, and the Eastern Plains.
Consumers are a primary audience for the series, which has delivered a strong media and public relations impact across national and international outlets in Colombia. More than 50 million impressions and views have been received across television, digital press, news portals and social media. The series has received coverage in La República, MSN, Yahoo News, Swissinfo, ABC-TV, Agro and Telemedellín. The series has also generated strong interest across digital platforms with 253,566 views on YouTube while USMEF’s Instagram platform has logged 1,061,561 views.
The documentary series is made possible through funding support from USDA.
