200 Years of Culinary Nationalism in Latin America. Overview.
Cruz Ortiz (Universidad de Puerto Rico en Humacao) talking about the culinary shifts accompanying the change from a Spanish to an American colony. In background Miguel Felipe Dorta (UCV, Venezuela), Sergio Zapata (Universidad de San Cruz Ortiz (Universidad de Puerto Rico en Humacao), in background Sergio Zapata (Universidad de SanMartín de Porres, Peru) and Sarah Bak-Geller (Universidad de Guadalajara-CIESAS)
Last night I returned, exhausted, from three days at the conference on 200 Years of Culinary Nationalism in Latin America in Guadalajara. It was excellent, even better than I expected. The organizers, Sarah Bak-Geller and Esther Katz, had done an excellent job selecting the speakers. Although very few of us knew each other before the conference, although we came from or talked about Bolivia, Venezuela, Columbia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Peru, the panels hung together beautifully. Of the approximately twenty five papers delivered only one was a dud. All the rest had a lot to contribute and I have pages and pages of notes that I will try to summarize in successive posts.
Guambiano kitchen in Columbi. Photo of photo by Carlos Humerto Illera Montoya (Universidad de Cauca, Colombia)
The topics tended to converge around three themes: indigenous cuisines; the symbiotic relationship between cookbooks, restaurants, and culinary language and nationalism in Latin America; and what in the world is going on with contemporary efforts to patrimonialize national cuisines (UNESCO) and the attempts by chefs to present their work as simultaneously drawing on national tradition and as bridging cultures.
After having in the last year suffered something of an overdose in Mexico of talks and publications declaring the necessity to save and promote a supposedly timeless and homogenous national cuisine, it was a huge relief to be in a group that skilfully dissected this rhetoric laying bare its underlying political and economic motivations.
Hence what a pity we did not have before us the Lima Declaration, a letter to future chefs about their responsibilities, issued a couple of days ago in Peru. Oh boy, would the group have had a field day with that!
Dear chef,
In relation with nature
1. Our work depends on nature’s gifts. As a result we all have a responsibility to know and protect nature, to use our cooking and our voices as a tool for recovering heirloom and endangered varieties and species, and promoting new ones. In this way we can help protect the earth’s biodiversity, as well as preserve and create flavours and to elaborate culinary methods.
2. Over the course of thousands of years, the dialogue between humans and nature has created agriculture. We are all, in other words, part of an ecological system. To ensure that this ecology is as healthy as possible, let’s encourage and practice sustainable production in the field and in the kitchen. In this way, we can create authentic flavour.
In relation with society
3. As chefs, we are the product of our culture. Each of us is heir to a legacy of flavours, dining customs and cooking techniques. Yet we don’t have to be passive. Through our cooking, our ethics, and our aesthetics, we can contribute to the culture and identity of a people, a region, a country. We can also serve as an important bridge with other cultures.
4. We practice a profession that has the power to affect the socio-economic development of others. We can have a significant economic impact by encouraging the exportation of our own culinary culture and fomenting others’ interest in it. At the same time, by collaborating with local producers and employing fair economic practices, we can generate sustainable local wealth and financially strengthen our communities.
In relation with knowledge
5. Although a primary goal of our profession is to provide happiness and stir emotions, through our own work and by working with experts in the fields of health and education, we have a unique opportunity to transmit our knowledge to members of the public, helping them, for example, to acquire good cooking habits, and to learn to make healthy choices about the foods they eat.
6. Through our profession, we have the opportunity to generate new knowledge, whether it be something so simple as the development of a recipe or as complicated as an in-depth research project. And just as we have each benefited from the teaching of others, we have a responsibility, in turn, to share our learning.
In relation with values
7. We live in a time in which cooking can be a beautiful form of self-expression. Cooking today is a field in constant evolution that includes many different disciplines. For that reason, it’s important to carry out our quests and fulfill our dreams with authenticity, humility, and above all, passion. Ultimately, we are each guided by our own ethics and values.
My goodness.
Can you tell me more about this letter?
Jorge, Sorry about the broken link. Here’s a copy of the Lima Declaration. Top chefs declaring their position on food.