Gastronomy: a cultural expression of natural diversity

It is no mystery to anyone that gastronomy is a powerful tool when it comes to positively impacting these issues. It depends, to a large extent, to promote the production of food with cultural relevance, ensure food sovereignty and security; reduce waste, dignify the countryside and create economic development from circular economies. 
We speak with Matías Cilloniz, chef and owner of Gocta Natura Reserve, mó.café and Festival Virtual Kitchens in Peru;  and Álvaro Romero, chef of La Mesa in Santiago de Chile, two chefs who are committed to a more sustainable vision in the kitchen. In this interview they share their visions about the responsibility that, as cooks, they must assume with respect to the planet, health and the community in which their work is framed.
Pamela Villagra: Is the kitchen a tool to reduce the gaps between the countryside and the city?
Matthias: “Absolutely. For example, in Gocta Natura, a boutique hotel in the Amazon region, we approach a community of women farmers, who have wonderful products, but who have a hard time selling. They have a purple potato inside and out that, generally, the Lima public rejects because they believe it is defective. We try to consume these products, applying fair trade and encouraging other restaurants or hotels to buy them as well. In this way we close gaps, we defend the peasant family farmer, who is a clean, seasonal product that favors diversity, is responsible and generates economic wealth for the community. It is our responsibility to bring the producer closer to the consumer, from the restaurant.”
Alvaro: “We have a great opportunity to make the change. The restaurant is part of a chain, an engine that articulates. It is not about being romantic, but we work with products from the land, the sea, birds, algae, fungi. Everything we can generate! If we add the service, the hospitality. It’s very entertaining and a lot of work too! Imagine all we can do for those artisans who make ciders, excellent, but who do not have a ticket, invoice, there we also close gaps.” 
Matías Cilloniz
How can we talk about a conscious gastronomy, from traceability, when we know that there are so many bad practices installed in the restaurant industry?
Matías: “I’m not going to tell people how they should do their things. In fact, many times we have fallen into paternalism with producers by telling them how they should generate crops or what to sow. We have been wrong there too. Business is all different, and there are those who put profitability first over composting, for example. In Gocta Natura all of us who are part share the same values and there we take the processes to the letter, from the logic of fairtrade, benefit the community in which we are inserted, respect the culture of place, reforestation, human resources, etc.  Cooks have to have these conversations with the producers, really know the process and the journey of the food.
Álvaro: “It’s difficult. I make contact with the huertero, with the fisherman, I approach, I know him, I buy him, I pay him. I assure traceability but it has been a path and a perseverance. Not everyone does, but not everyone has the order or the economy perhaps to do it. It is something that you have to work on, yes you can, it costs, but it requires a lot of discipline and responsibility. It is necessary to generate dialogue tables to put common objectives in the field. Share suppliers, contacts, secure value chains. The Bureau has no secrets.”
And seasonal cuisine, the one that speaks of seasonality and respects nature. If it is applied, if it is profitable or is it pure speech?
Matthias: “I don’t know how much we can, even if we should. I realized in Mo, that the limeño does not like to change the letter, to change the yellow potato for the purple potato. I changed my letter very frequently and it was a decision that cost me business success and discussions with my partners. You can but it is not an easy road. The steps have to be taken, but without closing doors.”
Alvaro: “Seasonality marks it, for us, the vegetable, and from there we define types of cooking, products, stews. We always try to apply it. And yes, it can be profitable. Last year with phases, openings and closings, we finished the operation with a blue year. It should be normal, you have to work for it.” 
Alvaro Romero
What concrete actions do you carry out in your restaurants to comply with this idea of sustainable gastronomy?
Matthias: “In Gocta, all those mentioned above. In Mo, I have returned to composting and recycling. We work with the company Sinba, which trains us, collects and processes our organic and inorganic waste, reducing up to 95% of that waste that later ends up in a landfill. With the organic we produce compost that is then put at the service of customers and neighbors and, another part, goes to feed pigs. The next step will be to ensure the quality of the entire product to be used, throughout the chain, starting with traceability and direct purchase from producers.
Alvaro: “The word sustainable is manipulated a lot. Just like gourmet, endemic, local. And when we talk about this, we have to be responsible. Being sustainable has three areas, social, environmental and economic. I try to be as responsible as possible. When I created La Mesa, I first thought -for example- about what fuel I was going to use in this restaurant house, I decided for several reasons to be one hundred percent electric. Then I thought about water, in a restaurant a lot of water is used, how am I going to use that resource? I installed a reverse osmosis plant, to reuse that water, the discard I use to irrigate the garden and for customer and staff bathrooms, water filter and I have efficiency in the equipment. I am interested in knowing where the food comes from, how I am going to eat and what I am going to feed, that is why my close, close relationship with suppliers, to learn and understand. In addition, it is in the field where I find creativity. I buy directly from producers, and I pay a day or a week, I apply fair trade and I am transparent with my team and human resources to improve conditions, which is my responsibility as an entrepreneur.”
Is the restaurant an ambassador of change?
Matthias:”I have always criticized this stance of the chef who believes he can save the world from illegal fishing, or deforestation, for example. To myself… it’s a critique of what I thought 15 years ago and what I see now. However, I do believe that we can generate an impact, leave a mark on our work teams so that they, in turn, influence their families; and a little bit, also, generate transformations on our clients and these on their close circle. If we all believed and assumed a responsibility with the environment, with the planet, with food, of course the change could be much greater.
Alvaro: “La Mesa is a kitchen, a workplace, a service, which seeks to do things well. We work our identity, on not losing our coherence with the proposal and philosophy behind. I sacrifice some profitability to assure my huerteros that they can sell all the production, or to be able to tell the Cecy, let’s go with everything, that I will buy equis number of ducks or quails in the winter. Not to go to the minimum wage with my team. Doing things right creates change. Always.” 
 Matías and Álvaro will participate in the “Dialogue on the Co-construction of Environments and Sustainable Production” that will be held on the 26th. In addition, they will give a dinner to 4 hands on April 27 at the restaurant La Mesa, in Santiago de Chile.  

Original source in Spanish