ORÍGENES, CLEAN START
Orígenes, the new project of Marco Colagreco, Virgilio Martinez and Jorge Vallejo aims to learn again and rediscover our ancestral cultures.
Orígenes, the new project of Marco Colagreco, Virgilio Martinez and Jorge Vallejo aims to learn again and rediscover our ancestral cultures.
By Paola Miglio (Twitter @paolamiglio) / English version Taste of Perú
Recognize that we know nothing. Start the path from the very beginning. Come back to the sources. Come back to the root, but not only to the root of an ingredient, or a tradition, but also to our own root. The new project of Marco Colagreco, Virgilio Martinez and Jorge Vallejo is a start with a clean slate that aims to learn again and rediscover those ancestral cultures that were there all of our lives and due to the lack of time and the whirlwind of everyday life we take for granted. Without them we are nothing. Without them, there are no Origins.
Jorge Vallejo, Mexican (Quintonil, third in the LatAm50Best Restaurants list), has just finished to serve a dinner for 30 people as guest chef at Nectar restaurant owned by Roberto Solís. His face looks tired but he seems happy. In the kitchen, the Argentinian chef Mauro Colagreco (currently the best chef in France, Mirazur) is plating the last dishes. After this adventure, he has to travel to Paris to monitor the progress of one of his restaurants. Virgilio Martínez (Central, the first restaurant in Latin America and the fourth in the world as per the 50 Best Restaurants List) had to travel to Japan that same afternoon to participate in another event.
This is our last night in Mérida city, in the Yucatan Península, where we came guided by three of the most important chefs in the world to uncover their new project: Orígenes. Early in the morning, we went to the Lucas de Gálvez market to buy the majority of the ingredients for the night. Everything was about the corn, the leading product chosen for the first adventure. While shopping for the ingredients, we saw how the dishes were created, identifying tastes and textures that later ended up being important parts of the culinary game. This ephemeral and brief magic leaves you with everlasting memories. Vallejo asked for a beer. After three days together in Yucatán a question arises: “so guys what is Origenes? What are we doing here?
Orígenes was created in Argentina. That was the place where the first talks started. The exchange between Vallejo, Martínez and Colagreco. That was the place where the idea of observe and learn how the communities of their countries live was born. Start gradually, set a solid foundation, and do not cover too much. Specially, understand each place. The identity of our cuisines is becoming greater and greater. We have to understand them, keep a horizontal relationship, and listen to them as they listen to us. Virgilo said “The basic barter of how everything begins are vows of mutual trust”.
Is an exercise of dedication, of dispossessions of egos, of ignorance recognition, of humility and of appreciation of our biodiversity. It means taking time, start to rediscover, give time to others. It means health and knowledge that we are what we eat. It means to find your own origins as a human being. Mauro Colagreco said: “Latin America provides and has this great potential, it can increase it. The beautiful thing is that we do not know where “Orígenes” is going, what will come next”.
THE YAXUNAH COMMUNITY
There are about 50 families living in the Maya Community of Yaxunah, located at approximately one hour and a half from the city of Mérida. Today there is a group of men and women receiving us. Their white clothes embroidered with colored threads contrast with the intense green of the forest. This is the only thing that moderates the heat we feel in all parts of our body. It is almost 40 degrees. As we are used to milder temperatures, we are looking for the shade, the water, a splash in a cenote on our way to the farm. It is a little land, the milpa, which includes in a single place the four basic elements of the food culture from Yucatán: corn, squash, ají pepper and beans. They grow up in the community, they learn from each other. This is the life of the people who are receiving us today with open arms.
Second part of Orígenes in spanish Cusco: El despertar y la continuidad.
In a table next to the hut where the dining room is located, there are four women preparing “tortillas”. Margarita Canuluicab, Eustaquia Chanmetx, María Petronila and Remigia Tequia. They are all Mayas that preserve their culture: they mix “cal” (lime powder), minced corn and water. They let it settle and then they knead it. This is not easy task. We tried, but they came up crooked. These “tortillas” are the foundation, the bread, the rice, the potato they are the support for the tasty condiments cooked under the land. The Mayas developed a technique that allows to slow cook seasoned turkey and pork in a pot placed under the earth, similar to pachamanca for Peruvians. This is prepared just for celebrations. To greet friends, guests and loved ones.
The stone grinder or batán is ready to make the demonstration. Strong women hands start to grind the spices to prepare the seasoning to cover the meats before the cooking process. First come the red, made with achiote. It has a fuller taste. Achiote was also used to paint the face and to prepare a drink called flor de balche made with honey. Today, is used to season the cochinita pibil (pork meat seasoned with achiote). They also add oregano, cumin, cinnamon, clove, and thick black pepper. For the black seasoning, the main ingredient is the roasted green chili pepper, without seeds. Once is grilled, it loses the spicy flavor. At this point they add clove, onion, oregano, black pepper and pink pepper or chopped pepper. This is for the turkey (or guajolote). In the cuisine from Yucatán we can see a great mix; for example a dish called puchero is a stew made of turkey broth, pork and beef; it is a sort of Peruvian sancochado. It is actually porridge since everything is mashed. Teodoro, one of the people in charge of the broths placed under the earth, told us that “Pre-hispanic stews still exist in some communities, such as los chilaquiles al huevo. It is also common to eat deer, but deer is not marinated”.
Then we have lunch. Tortillas are ready. Stews have been uncovered; the aromas are known and new at the same time. Turkey and pork pieces are placed on top of the tortillas generously. Every bite is sublime. It is like rediscovering the tastes of a lifetime. From here, and there. They are elegant, spicy, pleasant, and delicate. This is the old tradition that will move with us next to the sea in the following days, to simple snacks in the Sisal beach: fresh fish and snails, octopus and squids, coconut cremitas. And then this tradition will move further again, since it is the tradition and the culture themselves who claim new projects to support the sustainability of that area. An example is the Maya octopus-breeding center (the first variety that can be raised in captivity), run by Dr. Carlos Rosas Vázquez, researcher of the Multidisciplinary Unit of Teaching and Research of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. To cope with the demand, a responsible offer has raised, that also includes close communities. Rosas explains that “An alliance with a group of women was made and they funded the Moluscos del Mayab cooperative, that work hard to make possible the first commercial octopus farm in the world”.
¿WHY ORÍGENES?
Travel to Mérida has been an exploration, observation and reconciliation trip. Here we are not invading, but rather doing an exchange. It is true, three of the best chefs in the world are traveling to poor communities with all their knowledge and expertise. But hold on. Where is this knowledge and expertise coming from? Is it coming from them or from their hosts? This is the key. The breakdown of where is for us where Orígenes was born. There is so much we do not know. There is so much to rediscover. So many things that were always there. That is why this project has a great goal. “We believe that eating well and right is the best way to survive, especially in our countries that are in a development process. Our countries have these incoherence: we are biodiverse countries, but we can have a high level of poverty and marginalization when it comes to food. We want to have a permanent connection with them, and know in which direction they are going, what are their worries and we want to find ourselves through them”, said Jorge Vallejo. That’s it. This is the recognition from the humility.
When you pervade your community with good practices, you can see a driving force for change. Interest. You start getting worried for not sowing grainy corn and have your area cleaner. Create ties and an interdisciplinary structure. We know that Vallejo, Colagreco and Martínez cannot change the world. They also know that. However they can work together in the community and this is already a great start. We will go to Cusco for the second chapter of Orígenes to the community of Chahuay in Sangarara. And then, we will go to Argentina. The idea is to live together and this is not easy. You can be a stranger in your own country. These interventions do not aim at changing lifestyles, but rather to give tools and obtain them. The goal is to come back to the Orígenes, to the cultural exchange. This is what makes the world go round and sometimes we forget it.
DATA
The translation: www.taste-of-peru.com / US Telef: 703-822-5311 / Peru Telef: 222-708
Orígenes in spanish: Orígenes, empezar de cero
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