Street Drink · Creamy Rice Cooler

Chicha Venezolana

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Despite sharing a name with fermented Andean chichas, Venezuelan chicha is completely alcohol-free — it's closer to a drinkable rice pudding.

Chicha venezolana is a thick, ice-cold drink made by cooking rice until soft, then blending it with whole milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk until silky, finished with a dusting of ground cinnamon. Street carts keep it chilled in large jugs and pour it into plastic cups, often alongside arepas and empanadas.

Why it's made this way: Unlike the fermented, sometimes alcoholic chichas of the Andes, Venezuela's rice chicha is sweet and unfermented, and it has long been sold from carts by street vendors called chicheros.