The products presented were also used in cooking classes and tastings, receiving an excellent reception from chefs and the public who visited the fair.
They were eight associations and small aquaculturists from different areas of the country who were present in Space Food & Service, the main food fair in Chile, which took place between the 1st and 3rd of October in Santiago.
And that is because thanks to the support of the National Institute for the Sustainable Development of Artisanal Fisheries and Small-Scale Aquaculture, INDESPA, and the technical assistance of the Cooking Foundation, small aquaculture could show its products in the Sea Pavilion of the exhibition.
The producers who were at Espacio Food & Service were Carolina Muñoz, an algae cultivator of pelillo, gomoso lichen and chicorea from Bahía Inglesa, Atacama region, who showed the innovations she is carrying out in the north of the country, such as cochayuyo flakes.
From the same region, the Divers' Union of Shellfish Harvesters and Shore Collectors of Caldera Port (SIBUCAL) also participated, dedicated to the cultivation of northern oysters and which will soon, through an Indespa project, also cultivate oysters.
For its part, the Atacameño entrepreneurship La Isla Delicias, exposed the products with added value that today offers, such as oysters, oysters and piures.
The union of fishers and seafood traders from Caleta Chasco, Bahía Salada and Caleta del Medio (SITIMAR) also shared news of its upcoming harvest of more than 120 thousand northern scallops.
Representing the region of Coquimbo was present the Gremial Association of Fishermen of Tongoy, entity that carried its famous oysters, molluscs that grow for more than 30 years, besides showing other products that extract divers and collectors, such as madmen and machas.
From the Biobío region, Jessica Cabrera presented her Japanese oysters, which she grows as Marina Coliumo Farm in the municipality of Tomé, getting to know new business opportunities and novelties from other producers in the country.
Cristian Espinoza, producer of mussels of Queilen (Cultivas Alto Muro), province of Chiloé, carried his star product, which is IQF frozen chorito, with a different process ready for consumption, while Polinia Mansilla, producer of Quemchi, also came to show her business Chiloé Mil Sabores, which is dedicated to producing, smoking and dehydrating holgas and choritos, to then packaging them in dressing format, and so on. incorporate them into different preparations.
It should be noted that the products presented by the small aquaculture and aquaculture producers were also used in cooking classes and tastings, obtaining an excellent reception from chefs and the public who visited the fair.
INDESPA and Cocinamar support
For Leonardo Llanos Huerta, National Director of INDESPA, “one of our objectives with this initiative, to be able to improve marketing precisely by providing opportunities for the different aquaculture and aquaculture producers, who do their job perfectly, to have possibilities to connect with the market, develop new businesses, boost and dynamize the work they do in their cultivation centers.”
Fundación Cocinamar highlighted the opportunity to participate in the largest food fair in the country, providing the technical advice necessary for the good performance of aquaculture and aquaculture farmers. “The objectives were more than achieved, as they generated a series of commercial contacts, received many customers, many potential buyers and introduced to small-scale aquaculture. This was a new opportunity for many of them, as some participated for the first time in a fair,” said Gilda Medina, a journalist and communications officer at Cocinamar.
Images Contributed by Fundación Cocinamar, INDESPA and Chef Paula Baéz.
