Los Panas now offers take-home arepas at Market on Yates

Like in Venezuela, the arepa—a round, flat patty made of corn and filled with either pulled pork or chicken and topped with cheddar or feta cheese, avocado, or black beans—has become indispensable to residents, thanks to Carlos Bermudez at Los Panas Kitchen.

Now, Los Panas Kitchen is selling them for you to take home, all year round.

Available at Market on Yates, Los Panas’ frozen arepa set features two corn (gluten-free) arepas and pulled pork. Bermudez says they’re super easy and fast to make, taking approximately 15 minutes.

“You don’t even need to defrost them,” he tells Tasting Victoria. “Just put the arepas on the pan at medium-high for four minutes each side and in a separate pot, you can put the frozen pork with a bit of water for like five minutes with a lid, and stir it a couple of times, and voilà!”

Within three years, Bermudez has gone from educating people on Venezuelan food to just trying to have enough arepa fillings to feed an entire festival. It’s a success story that doesn’t come without its share of struggles, of course. But in the end, Bermudez says he just wants more people to experience the same Venezuelan food he grew up around.

“This is our first combo,” Bermudez told Tasting Victoria. “But we wanna do more fillings, with also flavored arepas and we also wanna add vegetarian options!”

Grab a take-home arepa from Market on Yates from 7am-11pm every day at 903 Yates St. Keep up to date with Los Panas Kitchen on its Instagram page, @lospanaskitchen.