Zoraida “Chori” Agamez and Heidy Pinto are mother and daughter and the authors of the play that took first place at the Gourmand Awards.
Two Colombian cooks, mother and daughter, and an editor with a passion for gastronomy received the award for the best cookbook in the world in Paris on Monday, an unexpected story of tenacity and reward.
Zoraida “Chori” Agamez and Heidy Pinto They are mother and daughter, cooks since they can remember in Barrancabermeja (northern Colombia). Two years before the start of the pandemic they insisted on finding out the origins and the different ways of cooking a typical dish not only from Colombia, but from a good part of Latin America: a flour dough cooked with all kinds of dressings, and wrapped in leaves that in turn are of infinity of varieties. They are the wrapped ones, or tamales in countries like Mexico or Guatemala. Made from corn dough, cassava, banana, rice … Seasoned with pork, beef, vegetables. Or even insects, according to the chronicles of the Spanish conquerors in the seventeenth century.
“We had been working those wrapped in workshops, teaching techniques. We focused on the masses, but people wanted to know about the wrappers, ”Heidy Pinto explained by telephone to AFP. “So we began to travel throughout Colombia, to find out where they come from, what they are called, how they are made … We collected more than 300 recipes,” he said. “Suddenly the compilation was like very big, so we decided to make a book but only about the wrapped ones with ripe banana, yucca and corn, which are the ones found throughout Colombia,” he added.
‘Creole origami’
The mother cooked, a daughter helped her, a third investigated the historical origins of an ancestral food, made to withstand travel and shaking, thanks to a wrapper that is sometimes an art in itself. Some experts even call this art of wrapping a “Creole origami”, alluding to the delicate Japanese paper figures.
“They have similarities with a lot of cuisines and techniques from around the world”, explained to AFP Daniel Guerrero, the editor of the work “Wrapped ”. The wrapped doughs are also typical of cuisines such as Thai, or Vietnamese.
Test more than 100 wraps
Chori and Heidy cooked over 100 wraps or buns, as they also call them, to adjust the recipes. “We started testing until we couldn’t anymore,” Heidy explains with a laugh.
They wrote the book without further help, and then they posted an ad on social media. On their blog, “The Colombian touch ”, They put up a “map of the wrapped ones” with the recipes and the places where to find the different varieties selected. A patient and artisan work.
Daniel appeared, wanting to buy the book. And we said to him: ‘mijito, we don’t have it, we’re looking for an editor … ”Heidy recalls. Daniel Guerrero had come to Colombia years ago from Spain. Passionate about gastronomic literature, he immediately bought the rights to “Wrapped ”.
He founded the publishing house “Hunger for culture”. He went with a photographer to the house of the ladies cooks. “They live in a very humble area, we took the photos at home,” he explained. Gastronomy books tend to be objects of a certain luxury. Neat edits, sparkling photos, impeccable dishes.
“We removed the entire house,” remembers Daniel with a laugh. I told him: ‘Chori, leave me that old pan, I want those dishes that are chipped,’ “he says. The noise began to circulate: two ladies from Barrancabermeja who have written a book exclusively about those involved … ”And then the epidemic arrives. With 80% of the investment made ”, Daniel Guerrero still sighs.
The economy is paralyzed. It was the first book of Hunger of culture. “I took a chance,” recalls the editor. He pulled out the book, and interestingly, the confinement helped. “In a year and a half we have sold 2,000 copies”, in three editions. Demands were even pouring in from abroad, from Colombians in Europe, Australia, Asia … Daniel Guerrero sent his booklet to Edouard Cointreau, organizer of the Gourmand Awards, the contest most important in the sector. An international network of critics, chefs and passionate chefs who choose the best publications every year. “Wrapped” won the first prize. Its protagonists receive it this Monday during the Week of the World’s Kitchens, in Paris.
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
