The Colombian Leonor Espinosa, chosen as the best chef in the world, considers that this award represents the vindication of the traditional cuisine of her country and a recognition of the “undusted” cookbooks of one of the most biodiverse countries in the world.
With her apron on and in her restaurant Leo, in Bogotá, Espinosa (Cartagena, 1963) assures in an interview that the recognition she received on Tuesday The World’s 50 Best It not only reflects “the perseverance of the work, which has to do with the years of dedication”, and the support of his team, but also the Colombian biodiversity.
“It is a cuisine that is based on the ingredients of biodiversity. They are ingredients that unite Colombia, they are ingredients that make visible those territories with a great biocultural wealth. In that sense, it fills me with pride to be able to participate in this recognition of Colombia abroad”, she expresses.
Photo: Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda
His Leo restaurant also made the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world, at number 46.
The chef, who was born and raised in the Colombian Caribbean, was already recognized in 2017 as the best female chef in Latin America.
CYCLE-BIOME
In the words of The World’s 50 Best, Espinosa “has a mission that goes far beyond applying haute cuisine techniques to Colombian ingredients”, since it uses a cycle-biome philosophy, “as a boost for the social and economic development of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, and their mission is now being more recognized.”
This philosophy, she confesses, began many years ago, since she considers herself one of “the pioneers in the world of chefs who reconciled themselves with their traditions, who began to value the work of that first producer, the farmer, who began to focus gastronomy as an engine of development”.
“I have been traveling through Colombia for many years, understanding what the territory is made of, which is not only made up of memories, but also, in the case of Colombia, of biodiversity, of that biodiversity that is a great opportunity for the country to grow economically. “, it states.
That, he emphasizes, is aligned with “a responsible, circular and sustainable kitchen”.
The Funleo socio-environmental foundation was born from this philosophy, which he directs together with his daughter Laura Hernández Espinosa, which aims to support indigenous communities and through which it reintroduces the ancestral culinary knowledge of some of them.
THE VALUE OF DIVERSITY
The concept of Leo as a restaurant began more than 17 years ago, something for which the chef began “inquiring” about the “historical memory” of Colombia, and that was the reason why she decided to travel to all corners of the country to discover the secrets of gastronomy
Espinosa makes a comparison between the musical diversity and the variety that exists in the kitchen, which is also “enhanced”.
“There are many kitchens within a single kitchen. I remember a research professor at the Sena (school of arts and crafts) in Cali, a great friend, who told me: ‘Leonor, in this country one can eat a different dish 365 days a year and not repeat it,'” she says. .
He rightly appreciates that this diversity in Colombian cuisine is “based on that geographical diversity” that the country has in its different ecosystems.
“There is still a lot to reconcile in Colombian kitchens, ingredients and traditional recipe books that have not yet been dusted off. That it is not about recovering them, because here nothing is lost; it’s about reconciling them,” she reflects.
THE ANCESTRAL VALUE OF COCA
Last February, Espinosa published a tweet in which he told an anecdote about a United States diplomat who was upset because during an event in which his restaurant prepared the food, a “fermented coca leaf was served in the pairing”, and He criticized that person, apparently, “is unaware of the multiple traditional uses of coca in indigenous cultures, unrelated to cocaine.”
That is why the Colombian cook once again underlined the values of a “plant that belongs to daily life, to the cosmogony” of the indigenous peoples of her country, both in the Amazon and Andean regions.
“The value that we give it is its ancestral value, that nutritional value, that magical, religious value that it has. Cocaine has nothing to do with it. And this ancestry cannot be sacrificed for something that does not belong to them”, he expresses.
However, he assures that where they plant coca it is, in part, due to “the same alienation and the same forgetfulness in which these communities live that have to give up their land for their livelihood.”
“For us, the value that coca has is a totally different value than that which ignorant people who do not have that knowledge of the value of what these ethnic worlds mean” concludes the best chef in the world. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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.
