Feeding future generations with recipes from the past
Through a nutrition education programme, indigenous women in Guatemala are reviving ancestral culinary traditions and fighting malnutrition at the same time.
© FAO / Luis Gustavo Sánchez
High up in Guatemala’s Cuchumatanes mountains, lunch is served in the Torres household. Mom Catarina places a steaming plate of empanadas – pastry stuffed with tomatoes, onions and greens – on the dining table in front of her three daughters, whose eyes shine bright in anticipation.
The recipe comes from a new cookbook created specifically for the 2 000 or so families from the Ixil Triangle, in the region of Quiché, and is based on ancestral knowledge and native crops. The cookbook is part of a larger nutrition education programme, begun by FAO and the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA), to support rural families in the area and revive the old traditions of cooking with indigenous, nutrient-filled crops. In addition to the cookbook of dishes typical to the region, the programme also offers training on growing native crops and on cooking according to nutritional best practices.
“When I was a girl I had no idea that these herbs and vegetables that I cook today even existed,” says Catarina, who joined a group of 17 women in the community to learn more about how to cultivate native species of herbs and plants and integrate them into their families’ food regimen in the most nutritional way possible.
The nutrition education program has made a huge difference to the 37-year-old’s family and to the community as a whole. The cooking lessons, strengthened nutritional knowledge and technical support are helping to reduce all forms of malnutrition. And the Ixil cookbook has helped spread the simple message that greens are good for you.