How can I change PDF output font from within the YAML header when using Pandoc on Markdown?

Question

Is there a (built-in) way to set a different font (or fonts) to use in the Pandoc YAML header? Ideally, I would do something like this in the YAML header of my Markdown file:

Answer 1

When you use xelatex or lualatex to render the PDF you must use:

---
mainfont: Arial
---

Official documentation: Variables for LaTeX