Bogotá is preparing to turn gastronomy into a meeting point for cultures with the first edition of the Festival Gastronómico y Cultural El Mundo en el Corazón de Bogotá, taking place September 19 and 20 at Parque El Country.
Admission is free to the two-day festival, which brings together 13 participating nations and the UN Mission in Colombia in a celebration of food, culture and international exchange.
The festival is a social project sponsored by ACONDIP, the Association of Diplomatic Spouses Accredited in Colombia, and forms part of the District’s Sabor Bogotá 2026 agenda. The initiative seeks to connect Bogotá’s international diplomatic community with residents, visitors, local entrepreneurs and cultural organizations through one of the city’s most universal forms of cultural expression: food.
For Angela Garzón of the Instituto Distrital de Turismo (IDT), the festival also speaks to the relationship Bogotá residents have with their city.
“It is special for those of us who live here, for Bogotá residents. It is a way of loving the city,” Garzón said, describing the idea behind Sabor Bogotá and the initiative led by the capital’s First Lady Carolina Deik and Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán.
Garzón also emphasized the growing role of gastronomy in Bogotá’s tourism economy. According to figures cited, the capital received more than 4.6 million visitors last year, including almost two million international visitors.
She highlighted that gastronomy is an important reason for visiting Bogotá, with more than 65 percent of international visitors identifying the city’s food culture as a reason for their trip. Among Colombians travelling to the capital from other parts of the country, she said, more than 40 percent come because Bogotá offers a different gastronomic experience, including cuisine from countries around the world.
For the IDT, supporting El Mundo is therefore part of a broader effort to use cultural and gastronomic events to generate tourism and social cohesion. “These are events that bring thousands of national and international visitors and move tourism within the localities of the city,” she said.
The festival will also feature entrepreneurs from Hecho en Bogotá and Corazones Productivos, programmes of the District’s Secretariat of Economic Development. Garzón noted that such events have become opportunities for entire families to spend a weekend discovering different parts of the Colombian capital while supporting local businesses and start-ups.
A taste of the world
The festival’s international character will be reflected in a menu that stretches across Latin America and beyond. Visitors will be able to try baleadas and yuca with chicharrón from Honduras, alongside mixed Chalaco ceviche and chocotejas from Peru.
Guatemala will present dishes including jocón, tipucas, chuchitos and tostadas with filled mole, while Ecuador will offer encebollado and dishes featuring cheese. The programme also includes macarrón from Lebanon, Costa Rican chifrijo, and Turkish mercimek, köfte and baklava.
The participation of diplomatic communities gives the event a dimension that extends beyond the restaurant table. By presenting national cuisines in a public setting, the festival creates an informal space for cultural exchange and for Bogotá residents to encounter traditions from countries represented in the city.
The Sabores of Bogotá
The event forms part of the wider Sabor Bogotá 2026 programme, which will continue later in September with an awards gala at the Teatro Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on September 29.
Santiago Trujillo, Bogotá’s Secretary of Culture, highlighted the importance of cooperation between public institutions, private businesses, communities and civil-society organizations in developing major projects for the city.
At the September 29 gala, Sabor Bogotá will present awards celebrating local culinary traditions, including prizes for the city’s best ajiaco and empanada.
The El Mundo festival will also include a solidarity component following the recent earthquake disaster in Colombia. At the direction of the mayor, six businesses and entrepreneurial initiatives from Valle del Cauca and Colombia’s Pacific region will participate in the event, following the cancellation this year of the Festival Petronio Álvarez.
The inclusion of Pacific and Valle del Cauca producers alongside international participants adds a Colombian dimension to a festival whose central theme is global cultural exchange.
For ACONDIP and its participating diplomatic communities, the weekend will offer an opportunity to introduce Bogotá audiences to their countries through food and culture. For the city, it forms part of a growing calendar of gastronomic events that link tourism, entrepreneurship, culture and open public spaces.
As Bogotá increasingly presents itself as a destination for food as well as art, history and nightlife, El Mundo en el Corazón de Bogotá offers a particularly international expression of that identity: 13 nations, the UN Mission in Colombia and Bogotá’s own diverse culinary community sharing the same table.
The Festival Gastronómico y Cultural El Mundo en el Corazón de Bogotá takes place September 19 and 20 at Parque El Country, with free admission.
Parque El Country: Calle 127 No.11D-90.
