In his presentation of a publication of a collection of booklets on traditional flavors of Colombia in 2014, the Director of Patrimony of the Ministry of Culture in Colombia defines traditional cuisines as follows: “Traditional cuisine, like language, will never be static. It varies
10 Middle-income consumers are said to be the main drivers of foodservice expansion in recent years
between families, it will be lost or be enriched in recipe books or through oral tradition, it will change depending on the mood of the cook and his or her tastes; ingredients will be added or omitted, depending on the possibilities of the region. In spite of the variations, many recipes are preserved almost intact in time and will be known as ‘traditional cuisine’” (Ministry of Culture, 2014: 9-10).
But how more exactly are traditional Colombian cuisines understood and what is at stake in the current interpretation of them? Does a ‘deconstructed’ sancocho or beans served in a ‘tower’, do threaten, replace or otherwise coexist and complement the traditional versions? If a restaurant charges triple the price for one of these dishes than for traditional beans and, furthermore, if traditional beans now cost triple what they did a few years ago (at least in some establishments) what is behind this change and why does it become potentially excluding, restrictive or simply another choice? Does a new version of a notable local cuisine dish defy or rather honor the original version? There is a process of interpretation of traditional cuisine in different regions of Colombia that is generating cultural products and discourses, along with the tension and debate that is characteristic of processes of appropriation and re-appropriation. Within this context, there is a transformation of the ways to understand Colombian cuisine and the context of its recipes. Rescue, rediscover (or discover), protect and disclose, recreate, represent and renew, are some of the actions at play in peoples’ creations.
Some of the activities in which this process is evident, as I mentioned, are the constant and increasing opening of new restaurants, but also specialized shops or venues with specific culinary themes, and the organization of academic seminars around food and diverse gastronomical events. In parallel or as part of these activities, there is a proliferation in the presence of panels and debates
in printed and digital media about Colombian cuisine, the restaurant industry, food sovereignty and security, public policies to serve and promote gastronomical tourism and preserve the culinary heritage. In addition, the creation of awards and acknowledgements for projects that showcase and work to develop culinary subjects enhances this community. Such initiatives promote knowledge, preservation and the promotion of culinary diversity in the different regions of the country.
This search for and reconstruction of diversity is in fact one of the cultural pillars of the different regional divisions in which a territory may be divided and offers a way to understand local identities.11 Such projects offer a reason for and a representation of its complexities and nuances. Anthropologist and chef Julián Estrada embodies this idea, following French scholar Jean François Revel (1982), arguing that even when cuisine is one of the daily manifestations of culture that operates as a function of the construction of national identities in the same way in which other events such as the national economy, politics and security do, “(…) one does not arrive at the concept of the ‘national’ by simply and mechanically adding that which is ‘regional’” (Estrada 2003: 214). Each regional cuisine is different and unique and should be understood as “one in which local technology uses accessories and materials that belong to the habitat, with almost exclusive products and spices, and one in which elements like air, the weather and fire mix with distinct flavors and the specialized hand, to obtain a recipe that only in that place is prepared originally” (Estrada 2003: 215).
On the other hand, even though it is possible to make different regional divisions of the country according to climatic zones and exclusively geographical criteria, I base my idea of
11 The Royal Spanish Academy – RAE – defines a region as a “portion of territory determined by ethnical
characteristics or special weather, production, topography, administration, government, etc., circumstances.” Also as “each of the large territorial division of a nation, defined by geographical, historical and social characteristics, and that may themselves be divided into provinces, departments, etc.” (2016: a).
territory and space on a social product defined by the sociopolitical and economic history of a nation, which determines the different cultural landscapes from which geographical spaces may be eventually detached. I follow the regional division carried out by the Popular Research and Education Center – CINEP – (1998) in its study about the different socioeconomic, political and cultural processes, of construction of Colombian regional multiplicity, to expose a general landscape of agricultural activity and the most characteristic products and dishes of this country. According to this division, Colombia has eight sub-regions: the northwestern region, the Caribbean region, the Santander region, the Cundinamarca and Boyacá region, the Upper Magdalena region, the Southwestern region, the Pacific Region and the Orinoco and Amazon region.