Colombian cuisine is influenced by its diverse fauna and flora as well as the cultural traditions of the many ethnic groups including the continuing 87 Indigenous Colombian peoples, the 11% African Colombians, the majority Spanish or Mestizo Colombians and the nearly 1 million Middle Eastern Colombians. Colombian cuisine is a compound of the culinary traditions of the six main regions within the country: Pacific, Amazonian, Andean, Orinoco, Caribbean and Insular. After Brazil, Colombia has the second-highest biodiversity in the world, so it has one of the widest varieties of available food ingredients. As one former President of Colombia famously said, “Biodiversity is to Colombia what oil is to the Middle East.”
