By Gabriela Albuja and Jacob Olander Jabuticaba, camu-camu, and mangaba are native Brazilian fruits with at least three times […]
Category: Sustainable gastronomy
By Jacob Olander Chocolate may be heavenly, but macambo seeds – from a cousin of the cacao tree – […]
In the Amazon city of Iquitos, Peru, people eat camu camu (Myrciaria dubia) with salt when it is […]
by Jacob Olander The Ecuadorian Amazon is remarkably easy to get to. In no other of the eight countries of […]
By Jacob Olander – The Amazon River draws together the waters of nearly half of South America. Recently those waters were the venue for a remarkable meeting, drawing together chefs, social entrepreneurs, writers, scientists, conservationists and business people to chart a course for the future of food from, and for, the Amazon.
Rows of combines roll in formation across regimented soybean fields. In the Brazilian Amazon, thousands of square kilometers have been cleared for the production of soy and beef for export. This is one way of producing food from the rainforest. But there are other ways. In Peru, an Awajun farmer tends her farm in the rainforest.
In Noli, a small comune in Liguria, Italy, Thomas Jefferson reports that you’ll find “a miserable tavern, but they can give you good fish viz. sardines, fresh anchovies, [etc.] and probably strawberries; perhaps too Ortolans.” In Rozzano, a comune in Milan, he recommends that you “ask for Mascarponi, a rich and excellent kind of curd, and enquire how it is made.”
Cuando Colón se encontró con el Nuevo Mundo, sus pueblos indígenas recibieron el nombre de “indios”, una designación errónea de magnitud histórica. Una fruta hasta entonces desconocida fuera de las Américas también recibió un nombre que pertenecía a otra: el pimiento. Para los españoles que probaron esta fruta por primera vez, su picor trajo a la mente los granos de pimienta que habían sido conocidos y comercializados en Eurasia, y así el fruto del Capsicum recibió el nombre de una especie totalmente diferente.
When Columbus stumbled upon the New World, its indigenous people became known as “Indians”, a misnomer of historical magnitude. Then, too, a fruit until then unknown outside of the Americas received a name that belonged to another: the pepper. To the Spaniards who tasted this fruit for the first time, its heat brought to mind the peppercorns that had been known and traded in Eurasia, and so the fruit of the Capsicum received the name of an entirely different species.
Tal vez es la globalización, tal vez el desarrollo, o quizá sean las innovaciones digitales y las redes sociales, pero mientras estamos más conectados unos con otros, más desconectados nos hallamos de aquello mismo que nos da vida. Entre ordenadores, teléfonos inteligentes, y otros equipos, en medio de tanta información me parece alucinante que yo requiera “recordatorios” de mi conexión con la Tierra: el origen del agua que uso, como el aire que respiro ha llegado a ser lo que es, de dónde proviene mi comida.
