Professional chef and indigenous rights advocate Taina Marajoara. A Brazilian chef will treat world leaders to traditional indigenous dishes. Felipe de Carvalho Culture and Education
Professional chef and indigenous rights advocate Taina Marajoara will helm the kitchen at the UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. In an interview with the UN News Service, she said that more than 10 tons of organic products produced on the basis of fair food systems will be purchased for the summit.
Taina Marajoara is the founder of the cultural and gastronomic collective Ponto de Cultura Alimentar Iacitatá, which was chosen for the kitchen serving all conference participants. According to her, heads of state and government, ministers and other forum participants will be offered food that “does not poison, does not pollute and does not kill, either by disease or as a result of conflict.” “We will serve canapira, a dish of the Marajoara people, which is still prepared in the families where I come from, and not only in the indigenous communities,” explains Taina. – After heated debate, we agreed that there would be a lot of acai. We will serve manisoba, a traditional dish from the state of Pará. This is also the food of indigenous tribes. It is made from cassava leaves, which are boiled for seven days with the addition of pork. There will be a lot of tucupi, jambu and chilli. We will cook takaka, fish in tucupi and piraruca. We plan to purchase at least two tons of this fish.”
Gastronomic message
“We want to show that it is possible to live in peace. We must live in peace,” Taina says of Indigenous heritage. – At COP 30, space will be provided for the diplomacy of our ancestors. We will make clear that the connection between the lives of indigenous peoples and local communities and food sovereignty must be recognized. While ancestral lands continue to be exploited and violence spreads across fields, waters, forests, deserts and glaciers, we are being killed – and our culture too.”
“Climate Justice Kitchen”
Taina was interviewed by UN News Service while in Rome, where she is participating in the World Food Forum, taking place at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Taina says Indigenous food systems are closely tied to traditional knowledge and spirituality, and she laments that this wisdom is often ignored or simply erased from memory for generations. For her, gastronomic magic is part of the “cultural diplomacy of the ancestors.” She hopes that this initiative will become an example for future international conferences. “We will have cuisine based on climate justice. This is the first UN Climate Conference with a kitchen organized by community and family farmers, and that is very important,” says Taina. – But it doesn’t have to start or end at KS-30. We want this to become a historic milestone and spread throughout the world so that our example is applied to other UN meetings.”
The key to climate protection
Taina emphasizes that food sovereignty is inseparable from indigenous self-determination and environmental protection environment. She hopes the climate forum in Brazil will help advance the principle of legal recognition of traditional indigenous territories as a key element of global climate policy. Taina believes the world is “in a state of collapse” and that there is no longer time for endless negotiations. “Protecting the territories of indigenous peoples and local communities,” she says, “is a real way to save our planet’s climate.”