Docsconz

Chile’s neighboring country of Peru has long been known for the seemingly infinite variety of native ingredients, many of which have been adopted and adapted by other cultures as part of the Columbian Exchange, in which products from the Americas like tomatoes, potatoes, chiles, chocolate and more were exported to other parts of the world and products from elsewhere like pigs, cattle, beans, grapes and various fruits and vegetables were brought to the Americas. For whatever reasons, Chile has largely avoided a reputation as a producer of endemic products and its economy has thrived as a producer of products primarily from the European tradition including some that originally came from the Americas. Indeed, my trip to Chile was sponsored in part by ProChile, an organization set up to promote Chilean agricultural exports and the vast majority of the food that we ate during the trip came from that tradition. My dinner at Boragó was not part of that trip. The truth is that with Chile’s extended length over a wide variety of climes, a coastline listed as fifth longest in the world and a width of only 265 miles at its widest point that incorporates the western Andes and the coastal mountain ranges, it can’t help but have incredible biodiversity, only a fraction of which is currently taken advantage of. I first got wind of this relatively dormant culinary cornucopia at the 2011 StarChefs ICC during the fascinating presentation of Rodolfo Guzman, the former professional competitive water skier turned world class chef, who elaborated on his vision of Chilean cuisine to utilize this untapped wealth. I was hooked and needed to experience Boragó and Chile for myself. Continue reading →