Inter Press Service English News Wire
09-01-2000
BUENOS AIRES, Aug. 31 (IPS) -- Argentineans depressed about
rising unemployment rates and falling wages are seeking solace in
the pleasures of a really good meal.
Long a setting that invoked female servitude, the kitchen
today is a place to enjoy the culinary arts, study gastronomy
and, for some, to seek television stardom.
One sign of the renewed interest in cooking is a new cable TV
channel in Latin America, "elgourmet.com," a 24-hour collection
of cooking programs currently available in Argentina, Mexico and
Peru.
Viewers are treated to shows on how to prepare chicken livers
in sherry, bake delicate tea cakes, or learn about the latest
wines on the market.
With unemployment reaching 15.4 percent, and new wage cuts
seemingly announced every week, many viewers in Argentina are
limited to vicarious enjoyment of such delicacies, or attempting
simplified and less expensive versions of the recipes at home.
Elgourmet.com programming ranges from shows that are virtual
documentaries on food, to tasting events where well-known Latin
American personalities get together and share their opinions on
the food or the wine.
This food channel and its Internet version are the culmination
of a process that began as a handful of television programs in
which the kitchen served as center stage.
Some were a sort of variety show, in which the kitchen
adjoined a living-room set where the invited guests would sit and
converse with the host.
But the format has evolved, as in the case of Argentina's
"Gato" Dumas, who cooks on television every Saturday night,
filming at different locations throughout the country.
His kitchen has been set up on snowy mountaintops, next to
lakes, rivers and waterfalls, and on sandy beaches, regardless of
the weather. The dishes he prepares are related to the place,
allowing viewers a broader appreciation of local flavor.
Karlos Arguiano, meanwhile, a Basque with a more traditional
approach, cooks in a classically designed kitchen and without
assistants. His popularity has grown with the new passion
Argentineans have for rediscovering pleasure in day-to-day life -
- whose desires and their satisfaction are more within reach.
Arguiano at first did not realize the magnitude of his show's
impact, but this Basque chef -- who formerly appeared on cable TV
-- has become the best-known chef in Argentina.
Now his program has been picked up by elgourmet.com, where he
cooks with Argentinean ingredients and pitches recipes in
cookbooks and magazines.
In August, his recipes began to appear as a weekly supplement
to Clarn newspaper, the top-selling daily in Argentina. The
weekly booklets can also be purchased for a dollar. Each chapter
is dedicated to a certain type of food.
The gourmet fever has also infected actors like Pablo Alarcn,
who opened a restaurant in a theatre where the audience is
invited to eat a two-course meal, accompanied by wine and coffee,
included in the price of the show.
The play is called, of course, "El Cocinero" (The Cook). It is
a series of monologues about the history of food, beginning with
"Adam's apple," says Alarcn himself, wearing an apron and the
requisite tall, white chef's hat.
The menu follows the course of the play, which alternates with
jazz music performed by an in-house combo.
Then there is journalist Vctor Ducrot. After working as a
correspondent for various international press agencies, he wrote
"Los sabores de la patria" (The Tastes of the Nation) and
recently opened a restaurant in his home.
Shunning a sign or advertising -- but requiring reservations -
- Ducrot welcomes 20 diners at a time into his house. There, he
reveals secrets of traditional Argentinean cuisine and of other
cultures he came to know during his travels around the world as a
journalist.
Ideas continue to bubble to the surface. A literary expert
specializing in Jorge Luis Borges guides tourists through Buenos
Aires who want to experience the links between the author of "El
Aleph" and "Ficciones" and the Palermo neighborhood. He concludes
the tour in his home, where he cooks dishes named in honor of his
favorite writers.
There is also a restaurant where the owner/chef sits down at
each table and converses with the customers, getting to know each
one and deciding what he will prepare for whom. The food that
arrives at the table is a surprise and the diners are generally
pleased to partake in the game of having an expert choose their
meals for them.
The passion for cooking has been spreading beyond the family
domain for some time now, especially among young people, who do
not see cooking as "women's work" to the extent that their
parents do. In the quest for good food, they have fuelled the
creation of more and more cooking schools.
In the spirit of anything goes, one chef, famous for making
pastry while wearing roller-skates, has been invited to host a
program alternating high-risk sports with chocolate-covered
confections.
Copyright 2000 IPS/GIN. The contents of this story can not be duplicated in any fashion without written permission of Global Information Network
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