South American Chefs Celebrate Amazon Cuisine by Cooking with Ingredients from Indigenous Communities

One of the dishes created by Bolivian chef Marsia Taha and Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez with ingredients from the Amazon, gets served at Gustu restaurant, in La Paz, Bolivia, on March 31.
16:30 JST, April 22, 2023
In the high altitudes of Bolivia’s La Paz, some of South America’s top chefs are paying homage to regional Amazonian culinary ingredients including gusanillo, or worm chili, tree bark that tastes like garlic, and honey from stingless bees.
The new collaboration between Bolivian chef Marsia Taha and Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez is seeking to raise awareness of the region’s incredible — and at times unusual — foods, and the indigenous communities at the forefront of collecting them.
At Taha’s restaurant Gustu in La Paz, a feast of colors and flavors was carefully spread out on wooden tables decorated with large leaves to celebrate the gastronomic diversity of the Peruvian and Bolivian Amazon.
“This is not only a celebration of the Amazon and its biodiversity but of our producers as well. They are the ones who make it possible for these products to arrive to our homes or our restaurants,” said Taha.
Indigenous communities in the countries’ huge areas of tropical rainforest capture feet-long fish, use bows and arrows to hunt, and harvest green and yellow peppers, and maize, transporting the products often hundreds of miles to big cities.
Martinez said there had been a growing movement to preserve regional culinary products and flavors.
“Over the last five years, we have seen a strong Latin American culture that wants to preserve its identity, that wants to preserve its ancestral culture,” he told Reuters.
“As Latin-Americans and South Americans, we have understood that our advantage is that we have the capacity to translate this environment, these products and flavors into something simple. We can bring it to the table with simplicity and grace.”
The chefs sourced ingredients from almost 200 indigenous communities in the Amazon through Gustu’s project Sabores Silvestres, or Wild Flavors, which has collected information on hundreds of ingredients through 15 years of research.
“We have worked with close to 200 indigenous communities and over 600 registered products — we have also used them at our restaurant. This brings us great pride,” Taha said.
"World" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
U.S. Ambassador: Japanese Cars Could Get Tariff Cuts; Glass Says U.S.-U.K. Deal a Possible Model for Japan
-
U.S.-Japan Trade Deal ‘Very Close,’ Says Trump, Without Evidence or Details
-
Beeman: Japan should Address Tariff Issues with China in Mind
-
Japanese Surgeon Recounts Myanmar Quake Relief Mission; Extreme Heat, Sudden Storms Complicated Treatment
-
South Korea’s Tourism Ministry Executive Seeks to Expand ROK-Japan Exchanges; Visitor Numbers Set New Record
JN ACCESS RANKING
-
Core Inflation in Japan’s Capital Sharply Accelerates in April
-
U.S. Holds Fire Over Yen Exchange Rate Targets; Bessent Said to Understand Negative Impact on Markets
-
Rents Mark 30-Year-High Rate of Rise; Decrease in Disposable Income May Dampen Personal Consumption
-
Japanese Govt Mulls Raising Number of Cars to be Imported Under Simplified Screen System in U.S. Tariff Negotiations
-
Japan Must Take Lead in Maintaining Free Trade System, Says Chairman of Japan Trade Group