On April 03, in New York, the accomplished Chef and activist Teresa Corção, owner of renowned restaurant “O Navegador” in Rio de Janeiro, discussed the role of food as a tool for social and environmental transformation as part of the BrazilFoundation Talk Series – Ideas that Transform Brazil.
Teresa spoke about her work at Instituto Maniva, founded in 2007, and discussed the importance of food in people’s daily lives and how the choice of what one eats has an impact on their lives and the environment. Much of her work focuses on manioc, one of the foundations of Brazil’s varied cuisines across the country’s diverse cultures and geographies.
Her work aims to promote Brazilian gastronomy and to create greater consciousness about food. One of the pillars of the Institute is education and it carries out cooking workshops for children in public schools. This work is developed along with Margarida Nogueira, coordinator of the workshops, who spoke about the methodology and results. Another pillar focuses on those who produce the food, and the Institute promotes workshops for family farmers to improve production and marketing of their products. As an example, a project trained people on the preparation of the manioc-based water flour, as well as the traditional flour container basket made of guarimã leaves using traditional indigenous techniques, which are being sold in some point of sales in Rio de Janeiro.
Now, Teresa and independent writer Sara Franklin are teaming up to write a book about manioc root, which will combine recipes, history, travel reporting and memoir. During the lecture, both spoke about the importance of promoting Brazilian culture and the culinary history of manioc.
More about Teresa Corção: An accomplished Chef, Teresa is the owner of renowned restaurant “O Navegador” in Rio de Janeiro, an active member of Slow Food Brazil, and a marketing consultant for the Circuit of Organic Markets in Rio de Janeiro. Frequently on the speaking circuit, Teresa will be a leading participant in the United Nations Rio+20 gathering in Rio de Janeiro, the World Nutrition Forum, the Social Enterprise World Forum and Terra Madre.
To learn more about Instituto Maniva: www.institutomaniva.org
Click here to support the book “The Manioc Route”
