The dishes that we associate with the coast are always linked to food coming from peasant hands.

By Meyling Tang, vice president of Fundación Cocinamar.

A good healer needs, at least, potatoes, peas, seafood and a smoky little piggy... just for a start. And a madman of legal origin, well served on the table, is always accompanied by potatoes May, green sauce and lettuce with plenty of lemon. 

What do I mean by this? That the dishes that we associate with the coast are always linked with food coming from peasant hands and that alliance was strengthened last November 21 in Santiago with the signing of an agreement of three ministries that seeks to operationalize the initiatives of peasant family farming, artisanal fishing and small-scale aquaculture.

In offices of the headquarters of FAO Chile, a ceremony was held for the creation of the Interministerial Executive Committee on Rural Food and Gastronomic Systems. The activity was led by the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela; the Undersecretary of Tourism, Verónica Pardo; the Undersecretary (s) of Public Health, Fernando Reyes; the Undersecretary (s) of Fisheries, Javier Rivera; the Deputy Director General and Regional Representative FAO Latin America and the Caribbean, Mario Lubetkin, INDESPA National Director, Leonardo Llanos and FAO Deputy Regional Representative Eve Crowley.

As they explained during the exhibitions, the work - which is part of the Food Security and Sovereignty Strategy of the portfolio - will also be aimed at diagnosing and identifying five intervention zones that allow the development of a joint work plan that addresses the gaps in rurality around five pilots, improving the conditions for empowerment, product diversification, marketing, and marketing. increase in consumption by various channels.

On the occasion, a Fair of small producers called Hug Campo Mar, which allowed to know the ready-to-eat foods and formats as interesting as the dehydrated cochayuyo of Algueros de Navidad, Region of O ́Higgins or the algae that sow on the coast of Caldera, Carolina Muñoz and José Avilés, as gracillaria (pelillo), chicorea de mar and lichen gomoso (Chondrus crispus), with which they add value producing snack for pets, and a natural dehydration that when processed is used for different foods and drinks.

From Cook We value this meeting that seeks to connect the ministries that have interference in food systems and generate those pilots in national territory that allow to bring the field, the fishing and the aquaculture to our tables.

In this same line, a couple of weeks ago we were in the Chiloé Archipelago developing a training program that we have called “My first fishmonger” focused on delivering tools to improve the marketing of blue food made by sea women that is supported by WWF Chile and Women against the Current.

We held workshops in Ancud and Castro to show practical examples of how we can reach homes with fish and seafood, new formats and small-scale business models such as the home fish subscription system Here there is fish (www.aquihayfish.cl) that works in Valdivia or the mobile fishing on wheels of Tres Peces that supplies restaurants in the central area (www.trespecies.cl).

It is a good first hug of the countryside and sea for the closing of this 2024.