Arepas of Caracas

The arepa Reina Pepiada has been traced to Venezuela’s first international beauty queen, Susana Duijm. The Latina with jet black hair and megawatt smile was crowned Miss World in 1955, the first South American to hold the title.

Proud of Duijm’s achievement, the Alvarez Brothers of Trujillo dressed their niece as a beauty queen and displayed her at their arepera so she could be seen from the street. Susana’s father was so pleased he brought his daughter to see them. The brothers gave Susana an arepa which they called “la reina” – the queen - and “pepiada” for curvaceous woman.