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32 ANALYSIS AND PROSPECTIVE STUDIES CULTIVAR Issue 22 APRIL 2021 farming, fishing, industry, environment, business, national promotion abroad, culture, art.” Although a famous chef himself, Acurio is not talking about promoting restaurants or star chefs. The idea goes deeper than that – and is far more generous. “If you look at cooking as just a playful, pleasurable exercise and you don’t worry about what’s around you, then, yes, it is just about eating and enjoyment for those who can afford it.” In a country like Peru, explained Acu- rio, “where affluence constantly clashes with pov- erty and pleasure can become immoral when there are children suffering from mal-nourishment, it was easy for chefs to recognise that cooking had to be more than just feeding those who can pay.” Here is one practical exam- ple, among the many others I recount in my article: “In one of the debating forums for Festival Mistura, the min- ister for development and social inclusion, Carolina Trivelli, talked of the need to ‘eat healthy, eat Peru- vian food’. ‘We don’t just want kids to eat well; we want them to be the guardians of the traditions of their regions. Andean grains are at the centre of this strategy,’ declared Trivelli, who days later signed an agreement with Apega to add various Andean products, particularly quinoa, to school menus. ‘It is essential to form an alliance with local producers and cooks. Our kids need to know where their food comes from.’” Acurio reinforced the idea: “Thousands of years ago, Peru had a biodiversity which ensured people had environmental security. Kids weren’t undernour- ished because they ate what they had. Then market- ing came along and told them they had to drink milk and eat pasta and people began to abandon quinoa and other products. Public policies listened to this marketing and food aid programmes sent milk, sugar, pasta and rice from Lima to the rest of the country. Today, local production chains are being recreated through rich, healthy and coherent diets.” There are good examples here in Portugal too – just look at how many municipalities do an excellent job at praising and disseminating local products. It is impossi- ble to talk about all of them, so I will mention just one here: bísaro pork. The indig- enous bísaro breed from the north of the country was almost extinct in Portugal because it was con- sidered less profitable than other breeds. In 1995, Carla Alves, an animal husbandry engineer aware of the problem, sought out the few remaining animals and started a process of restoring the breed. Vinhais Municipal Council, which organizes the Feira do Fumeiro [Smoked Foods Fair], decided to support the bísaro pig project when con- cerns were raised about the fall in quality of the regional smoked products. Inspections of products on sale at the fair showed that poor quality meat was being used. There was a need to return to bísaro pork, but the problem was the lack of animals. It was necessary to convince local producers to swap more profitable foreign breeds for bísaro , but in order to do that the latter had to be seen in a new light and to be sold at a fair price. That’s when EU protection was sought for these smoked products, culminating in the awarding of Protected Geographical Indica- tion (PGI) to the Vinhais Smokery (Fumeiro de Vin- hais) and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) to bísaro pork. In a work I did in 2013 on what made certain PDO products successful or not, I realised that it was this link with certified smoked products that saved the bísaro from extinction. Other good examples are those that connect local products to tourism. As we know, tourists are increasingly interested in discovering not just mon- … it was easy for chefs to recognise that cooking had to be more than just feeding those who can pay. There are good examples in Portugal too [like] bisaro pork. The indigenous bísaro breed from the north of the country was almost extinct in Portugal… In 1995, Carla Alves, sought out the few remaining animals and started a process of restoring the breed.