When I was young, I remember my father always used to take care of the food during parties with friends and family. He always prepared arroz con gandules (rice and pigeon peas), pernil (roasted pig), pastelón (sweet and sour Caribbean version of a lasagna) and asopao (rice and soup). In Puerto Rico any holiday is an excuse to make a feast, but in my family the most important one was ‘El Día de los Reyes Magos’ (Three Kings Day) and food always took centre stage.
However, the majority of traditional recipes are made of fried food and low nutritional carbohydrates since agriculture was never a substantial part of the economy due to the frequent risk of natural disasters and a lack of government support. Moreover, due to the Jones Merchant Law, everything that is imported in Puerto Rico needs to be checked first and accepted by mainland US naval ships, making many goods too expensive for citizens to afford. The main crops that are cultivated are plantains, sugar cane, coffee and livestock and therefore, most food required for a balanced diet needs to be brought from other countries.
How did you realize that gastronomy was your passion?
Like many others Puerto Ricans, up until the age of 19 I had never tried vegetables. When I first tried a salad it tasted like dirt! My path to the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo (UNISG) is unusual: back home I earned a degree in Computer Science and worked as a database developer, although it was never my true calling.
I remember that I would get involved in as many activities as possible in university, from cooking to training as a cheerleader to taking part in a military recruitment program, perhaps to distract myself from the burdens of finding a place to belong.
By 25, my life fit the mould of the studious Puerto Rican, on his way to achieving a solid career: I was working nonstop and with little sociality. The one beam of hope was cooking. Creating innovative and healthy meals helped me approach the day with greater optimism and creativity. That is when I started to think outside the box and consider gastronomic sciences as more than a hobby. Last year I decided to change my path for good and follow my instincts by moving to a small town called Bra in northern Italy, between the renowned vineyards of Barolo and Barbaresco, to become a gastronome at UNISG.
How did COVID-19 impact your local community as you quarantined in Bra?
Clearly, these are tough times for small-scale producers, farmers and restaurateurs. I was truly impressed by the sense of solidarity that has developed between neighbours in the last few months. As food is both a necessity and a pleasure that we can thankfully still enjoy during the lockdown, sharing it with other people (while maintaining social distancing) is a good way to support them and demonstrate they are not alone in this.
During these months, I helped other students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences with a project called “Food to Share”, which is an initiative with the mission of “taking care of the community through cooking and sharing”. It is about cooking something nice and thoughtful in your home and then giving it to a friend and neighbour, who will in return cook something for you and for someone else.
In the future, when all students return to the university, we have a plan of cooking for people still struggling during the aftermath of the crisis using farmers’ unsold products. Solidarity is the key to healing our society after this crisis, as together we are powerful and less fragile.
How did COVID-19 impact the way you think about your future?
This feeling of uncertainty fills me with anxiety but my plans for the future stay the same. I want to go back to Puerto Rico one day and educate people about food and sustainability through practical experiences. Tourism could be a powerful tool to involve people in this educational project. Unfortunately, my country has not changed much since the 1960s. For example, there is no legislation enforcing recycling and the vast majority of energy is still produced using coal.
In the realm of food, they are even further behind. This is the reason why I want to drive a change for Puerto Rico, implementing the Slow Food pillars I have learned in my year in Bra: everyone has the right to good, clean and fair food for both the people that cultivate the land and for the environment itself. My goal is to implement this vision and build a better environment and community for the people of my country who often don’t have access to fresh and seasonal food.