We are Mariale & Fernando from Venezuela and owners of Papelon Arepa Bar. First Arepa Food Truck in Metro Detroit Area. Fernando is the Master Chef while Mariale is the brains and professional food taster.
Running away from the economical and political crisis of Venezuela, we decided to move to Detroit to start all over. For sure it has not been easy leaving our family behind and professional lives (Fernando is a CPA in Venezuela and Mariale is an Industrial Engineer) but so far has been the best decision since we can now support our family from the distance.
Papelon Arepa Bar started at a small outdoor market in Southwest Detroit (Mexican Town) back in 2019, just a table, some arepas and lots of dreams, since Venezuelan community is small in Michigan we wanted to see the acceptance from other cultures to our food, so far so good