Gustu and Culinary Diplomacy in Bolivia

Just saw this article in the New Yorker about how Chef Rene Redzepi, founder of the top-rated restaurant in the world, started a restauarant with an NGO in La Paz, Bolivia. It combines culinary diplomacy with a seemingly functional two-way development model. 

Some excerpts: 
 "Meyer realized that their strategy was flawed: they could not run an ambitious restaurant and teach staff members the rudiments of kitchen work at the same time. He devised a two-tiered system for training employees. Melting Pot would start a network of entry-level cooking schools in El Alto, where their students lived. The top graduates would be eligible for scholarships to continue their studies at Gustu."

and

"Seidler needed to please many kinds of people: prominent Bolivians, the local press, the international press, travel bloggers, food tourists, regular tourists, backpackers, Bolivian ex-pats who are nostalgic for flavors from their childhood, and judges for Latin America’s Fifty Best Restaurants, a ranking started in 2013. She had to come up with a formula that nobody else had. “It is almost like an international game,” Meyer told me. “We don’t compete with the restaurant next door.”

Tacos a la Gaucho

Almost every day at Biosfera, someone cooks and we all lunch together. I’d only had one opportunity to show off my mad culinary skillz and kind of bombed: Start cooking when you’re already hungry and I guarantee you’ll always mess something up.

Determined to redeem myself, I set off to cook up some authentic Gringo Mexican food that I’d been talking up during my time. Since my go-to, chile verde was a no-go (there’s no crockpots in Argentina), I settled on tacos. Tacos are still pretty rare down here, I had to buy most of the ingredients in the imports section of the supermarket. Refried beans were about $2.50 a can and I had no success finding limes or ripe avocados.

Despite the inconveniences, Argentine burger meat worked surprisingly well for tacos and I was able to find tortillas and added salt and oil to make authentic style chips in the oven. I spiced up the tacos a little bit with garlic and served jalapeños on the side, which Chamigo Charlie devoured in an attempt to disprove my spice bias against Argentines. Avocados and mango salsa were brought in by two lovely ladies and we had more food than we knew what to do with. The only thing really missing was some great Mexican beer; in time Bohemia, in time. And now, a gaucho with guacamole:  bien hecho Manu!