From the Nordic country, an initiative arrives to revalue the Mexican gastronomic wealth.
Mexico is known for being a country with a very wide natural and cultural diversity. From this, Finland turned to see our country in search of something very important: knowledge.
Proof of this is, in which the inhabitants of Xochimilco, Business Finland, the College of Gastronomy, and some companies have decided to collaborate in search of answering a question: Can traditional agriculture be saved and improve the environment in this megalopolis through food?
But there is another question, what is Finland doing promoting the food biodiversity of a country 10,000 kilometers away? Finland has found that researching and understanding food creates a virtuous circle. They have a multidisciplinary research center known as VTT, which started as an effort to ensure food sovereignty in Finland. There, food is studied in all known aspects, such as microbiology, biochemistry, logistics, ecology, climatology, and genetics.
To this, Patricia Ceja, representative of Business Finland, added “We have identified great experts in Mexico who work on these issues, and we think that their contributions deserve to be better known. On the other hand, in addition to human capital, Mexico’s botanical capital may be a key factor in the food and nutritional crisis that the world is going through.”
“Today we have decided to join forces with all those who seek to preserve and promote the ethnobotanical treasure of Mexico and promote the transformation of Mexico into a world power of superfoods. Patricia added.
Roots Cuisine
To work on the reflection and rescue of traditions and resources, the Xochimilco 2022 Gastronomic Contest was organized, which seeks to promote gastronomic creativity based on food biodiversity and the cultural richness of Mexico.
The competition consists of the design of a modern gastronomy dish with pre- Hispanic inspiration, with the exclusive use of ingredients of Mexican origin, that is, the use of ingredients that were introduced by Europeans is prohibited.
The call for the contest closes on September 16 and you can find the rules at www.deliciosacomida.com. For the semifinal, a total of 16 proposals will be chosen to cook their dish on September 20 in the facilities of the College of Gastronomy and thus decide who will reach the grand final that will be held on September 23 in a chinampa in the area Muyuguarda, in Xochimilco.
The registered recipes will be part of an educational cookbook prepared in collaboration with Finland and that will be translated into different languages to bring the food culture of Mexico to every corner of the world. Be part of this contest and bring Mexican ingredients to the table.