Of food and man: Geografical Indications

Seven years ago I considered there was little I could do to change participate in preserving our food identity. But I couldn’t stay behind the walls of the food service industry either. By 27 I already had diverse experiences as a cook in London, Mexico, Canada, and Spain. 

Without any idea that #food #origin #protections existed when looking for a topic to graduate, I headed to Papantla, Veracruz, to meet some vanilla growers. 

That same year the ‘Vainilla de Papantla” got its Protection of Origin, in 2003; a right that protects from the use of its known name outside of the specific regions in Mexico. Positive externalities that stem from this protection are such as raising the stakes of a product tightly linked to a territory and enabling strategies benefiting the identity of people harvesting vanilla from time historic. 

I realized I couldn’t afford to write a recipe book on the different uses of vanilla. The subject is rich and complex to be understood by an urban-born woman having stepped into the rural world through a Culinary Management degree. 

Group ESA, Master in Food Identity

The Food Identity Master is a 2 year programme based in the Superior Agricultural School in Angers, located 3 hrs away on southwest from Paris. In March 2015, I received an acceptation email, and by July I flew over to Paris, took a train down to Angers and started the programme in September 2015. In this very first place where I got to meet people from 19 nationalities, for whom I became a colleague for 2 years.  

This european specialization programme focused in an interesting niche of international food business by covering food, agriculture and the environment science and technology courses. The programme tackles the concept of regional food products in Europe, its political background and its global opportunities for rural development and more resilient food systems.

I have spent more than 9 months in Texas already and worried more about what Mexican food really stands for. The Wall Street Journal posted today an article about taco authenticity. Finally. Agreeing with the fact tacos have now come ¨from worker's snack and fast-food guilty pleasure to chef fetish".

It is not because high end chefs around the world are starting taquerías such as the Adriá brothers and Redzepi, but because Doritos Loco Taco is doing it too.

For now and not until I am academically prepared to protect Mexican tortilla authenticity, what I can say is: Eating a taco starts with a good tortilla. A good one is traditionally made by steeping dried corn in a mixture of water and pickling lime-a process called nixtamalization- and grinding it into a damp meal called masa. Then masa is individually portioned and pressed to obtain one tortilla if doing it by hand. Commodity brands such as Taco Bell, Maseca, don't have that. Most restaurants don't either. I feel sorry about this very true fact.

No importa el estado o nación al que viaje, es mi natual enfoque respirar los olores y probar sus sabores. El hambre que me da es una mezcla de curiosidad del presente porque su historia me intriga. ¿Es la fritura lo que da sabor?¿o sus procesos agrícolas locales? observo las manos que me sirven y siento el olor del piso. ¿Cuán pobres son los campos donde se cosecha y porqué?

Geographical Indicators.

Mexico. The first non-European country to establish a system of protection in 1974 intended to protect the ‘terroir’ of tequila’s region of origin that has contributed to its specific properties, in the town of Amatitán.

How to participate in defining strategies to protect the economy of producers and their unique processes? Mexican food processing is more than agriculture and emblematic food items.  It is a continuous interaction between people, places and products, that assist in the creation of value within a global market, while they remain anchored in a specific place, at the same time it reinforces our cultural recognition”