A cheese bread from Valle del Cauca has found an unlikely celebrity endorser. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stopped by Seba Seba Bakery in Jackson Heights, Queens, sampled a spread of Colombian classics, and declared pandebono "incredible" — a verdict that Colombian social media wasted no time amplifying.

The bakery itself is a genuine institution. Founded in 1987 by Colombian brothers Luis and Rubén Velázquez, it has spent nearly four decades anchoring Jackson Heights' Colombian food scene. The brothers arrived in the United States facing the double hurdle of little money and limited English, and built a business that now serves as a gathering point for Colombians and other Queens residents alike.

Mamdani, clearly enjoying the visit, joked that his search for ways to lose weight had met its match the moment he walked in. He chatted with the owners about their story, and after content creator Chinita Paisa explained the Colombian word "berraco" — a compliment for someone hardworking and resilient in the face of hardship — he said the Velázquez brothers were the best example of it he could imagine.

So what exactly was on the table? Pandebono is a soft, chewy cheese bread made from cassava starch, corn, cheese and eggs, with a savoury-but-slightly-sweet flavour. It hails from Valle del Cauca in western Colombia but is now a nationwide staple, eaten at breakfast, as a snack, or with coffee at any casual gathering. The mayor also tried agua de panela, a drink made by dissolving panela — unrefined cane sugar — in hot or cold water, sometimes with a squeeze of lime or lemon. It's an everyday comfort drink across Colombia, tied to generations of sugar-cane rural tradition.

Even the bakery's name has a story: "seba seba" reportedly describes the feeling of eating something so good you can't stop.

For travellers, this is a handy reminder that you don't need a flight to Bogotá to eat well in Colombia — or, conversely, that a trip to Queens can double as a culinary tour of Latin America. Jackson Heights is one of New York's most vibrant immigrant neighbourhoods, and its Colombian bakeries, arepas joints and empanada counters sit alongside food from across the Americas. A pandebono fresh from the oven with hot agua de panela is a genuinely good breakfast by any standard, and now it has mayoral approval.