Guatemala: Geography, history, and cooking to never again be a subjugated people

Guatemala CityFrom the main square of Guatemala City's historic center, a shopping arcade opens with a tiled floor in a cream and black checkerboard pattern. Entering it feels like a step back in time. Right here inside is a restaurant that, if unfamiliar, might go unnoticed: El Portal. A simple diner hidden behind a wooden door. Once inside, a photograph of Che Guevara places this establishment in history. Here, the Argentine revolutionary recruited people to attack Cuba. Guatemalan Nobel Prize winner Miguel Ángel Asturias also wrote at these tables, a prominent figure who will be mentioned again later.

Just sitting down at El Portal, they serve you potato salad with mayonnaise and small corn tortillas with three types of salsa. Most people order a mixto with avocado. It also comes with bean cream, cheese, and a sausage. People keep coming in, and they're all drinking. chelas (as they call beer here) very cold. Probably the national brand: Gallo. The years have passed, but El Portal is a historical site that remains just as popular. In fact, in Guatemala, history is very much alive. You can also see it at the impressive jungle site of Tikal, where visitors are amazed by the Mayan city, the impressive vegetation, and the little animals running everywhere. But this isn't just a tourist attraction. For many Mayan ethnic groups, it's a place of worship, and they practice their rituals while standing next to people in shorts, trying not to be devoured by mosquitoes and, above all, looking good in the photo.

In the taxi taking me to the city center, the driver gives me some advice: "Above all, don't go to fast food chains. Go to small eateries. Here the food is cheap. Just make an exception with the shucos. The shucos Yes, you should try them. They are ours. hot dogs"!" he explains. They're frankfurter sandwiches (or chorizo, or many other types of meat, if not all at once) to which they add guacamole, cheese, onion, and a host of other sauces and ingredients to suit the consumer's taste. There are many places that prepare them, especially in the 4th district of the capital. Shuco means dirty And since it wouldn't be fine food, in Guatemala they were named that way. In any case, the taxi driver was proud to recommend it to me. When I have the chance to try them, I think he has reason to be. But I disagree with comparing them to the hot dogs: I'd say they're better. They serve them with light, toasted bread, which is one of the foundations of their success.

As I travel around the country, I understand what you're saying about fast food. Guatemala is infested with American fast-food chains. In Guatemala City alone, there are more than 100 McDonald's. In fact, the 100th one proudly displays it on its facade. Another chain that's surprisingly widespread is Starbucks. Guatemalan coffee is famous worldwide for its quality. It's easy to drink at a good price throughout the country. So the success of the Seattle-born chain surprises me because of what it offers and the price. All the Guatemalans I ask what they think of the coffee chain, they give me the same answer: people consume based on status.

The turning point

Guatemalans have many reasons to boast about their cuisine. It's rich, nutritious, delicious, and reasonably priced, and in recent years, restaurants have sprung up that are second to none. This doesn't mean that their admiration for everything that comes from the north is detrimental to their national self-esteem. Not surprisingly, the United States used its influence to influence the country's political life and exploit and control the country through the United Fruit Company for almost a century, imposing ministers, controlling the territory, and, when necessary, plotting coups. Hence the term banana republic And from there, also, the will of many citizens to throw off the yoke that has oppressed them for so many years.

As has been demonstrated in other countries, cuisine can be an engine of change to turn things around, and in Guatemala City there are two examples of people who have done extraordinary work: Debora Fadul, from the Diacá restaurant, and Sergio Díaz, from Sublime. The gastronomic scene in Guatemala has flourished, as has the quality of life of Guatemalans, and the country is positioning itself as a first-rate tourist destination. According to data from the Guatemalan Tourism Institute (INGUAT), tourism has grown 15% compared to the previous year, setting a record for the sector. The country will receive 3 million tourists in 2024.

Throughout Guatemala, the good times are palpable. Construction is everywhere and shopping malls are multiplying. Investors have set their sights, and tourism has found in the Central American country a place rich in culture, landscapes, wildlife, and friendly, helpful people. And it's becoming increasingly safe, leaving the memory of wars and dictatorships far behind.

As a foreigner, a great way to start your trip is with a visit to Diacá restaurant. Chef Debora Fadul's project is considered the 52nd restaurant in Latin America according to 50 Best, but the most important award isn't the one awarded by the English list; rather, Diacá restaurant can't be replicated anywhere else. It's a genuine establishment because it's "from here," as Guatemalans would pronounce "say here". It's already on its third location because it hasn't stopped growing. It now occupies a brutalist-style building that has been converted into a cozy place. In the kitchen, there's practically no steel, but we do find marble, because marble is also from here. Guatemala exports it. In this restaurant, everything makes sense. Volcanic stones, seeds, fabrics, and foods that come from all corners of the country, and of which not a crumb is thrown away. At the entrance, you are greeted by a kind of altar made of pieces of wood. If you look closely, it's a relief map of the country, to explain who they are and where each ingredient comes from. 70% of the people who visit them are locals because Debora Fadul achieves the most difficult thing: being a prophet in her own land.

Unlike haute cuisine chefs, she hasn't gone to learn in foreign kitchens. Why, if everything was there to do here? When she started eighteen years ago, everyone considered her "a tree-hugging hippie," in her words, and now everyone The world asks her to connect them with suppliers. It's not very difficult to find them: at the end of the meal, she gives you a brochure with all their phone numbers. Once you've visited her restaurant, it's easy to connect what you've learned with her with what you're finding around the country. Like the best beans, from the town of Parramos, the melipona bee honey, which I find again at the impressive Lake Atitlan, or the vegetables grown by the Quiché Maya ethnic group and which I see flourishing in the Chichicastenango market. Debora Fadul has done a lot of research and has close connections with experts of all kinds, from biologists to archaeologists. "Did you know that Guatemala is the third country in the world in mushroom diversity? Right after China and Mexico, and we're much smaller!" she explains enthusiastically. She also tells me that she's had seeds from 700 BC found in excavations, which show us how deeply rooted some crop varieties are in the region. Everything comes from very far away.

When Debora Fadul isn't wearing her chef's uniform, she can be seen wearing a T-shirt that says, "Pepitoria before pistachio." Pepitoria is the seed of the pumpkin, widely used in the country's cuisine. In fact, between corn, beans, and squash, you have the three core ingredients already cultivated by the Mayans. And we should add cacao, which was considered a practically divine product and so valuable that it was even used as currency.

Coffee and sweets in the ancient capital

Many of Debora Fadul's producers come from the area of Antigua, the country's former capital. A beautiful colonial city that lost its power as a result of two earthquakes and being surrounded by imposing volcanoes, including Volcano Fuego, which is constantly releasing its emissions. It's one of the country's main attractions, and digital nomads are already setting up their laptops in the various specialty coffee shops.

Around the city, we find acres of coffee plantations. There is coffee everywhere, even in pots outside the shops. Nearby, you can visit plantations and make tours to see how it's grown. Like at Finca La Azotea, where in the area called El Maizal you can also try black corn tortillas with Chancol cheese. This cheese was first produced by a Basque man who emigrated many years ago, and his family has since continued it.

In the center of Antigua's beautiful streets, we also find the Troccoli restaurant, owned by an Italian immigrant who ended up falling in love with the place in the late 19th century. In the former capital, you can see the ravages of earthquakes and find vestiges of the Spanish passage through the region. An example can be found in the fantastic (and not suitable for diabetics) century-old pastry shop Doña María Gordillo. You can try canillas de leche, candied fruit, marzipan, and, on weekends, nuégados. Within those four walls, it would seem that time stood still many years ago, if it weren't for the tourists who excitedly bought their sweets.

The restaurant anthropologist

If Diacá restaurant is perfect for understanding the country's geography and its products, Sublime restaurant is the one that will give you the historical context. And they take this so seriously that they have an anthropologist on staff. Jocelyn Degollado signs the menu (literally, as can be seen from the menu), as does its chef and owner, Sergio Díaz. "How can you feel proud of who you are if you don't know where we come from? We Guatemalans don't know our history," says the chef.

Díaz worked in various places around the world before returning to his native country. He spent a good time in Vacarisses, at the restaurant El Cingle, where he says he learned a lot from his cook, Montse Estruch, to whom he has nothing but good things to say, some in Catalan.

Sublime restaurant is the 22nd best restaurant in Latin America and half of its clientele is local. It offers a 12-course menu that explains the evolution of the country through 12 historical events. It's a huge undertaking that involves carefully selecting them, locating them geographically, finding ingredients that match—both in terms of historical moment and origin—and deciding on a presentation that also evokes them. Neither form nor substance is subordinate to substance. Díaz wanted to create a restaurant where everything was balanced and there were no rough edges. Needless to say, succulent dishes are also essential. The staff is held to high standards because they are not only expected to be able to explain how the dishes are made, but they must also be familiar with the historical episode it narrates.

To give an example, we'll start with the first one, located in Huehuetenango. There is scientific debate about the origin of corn, but scholars point to this place as one of the possible sites dating back more than 8,000 years. The restaurant explains that it is such a sacred ingredient that in the Popol Vuh, the only book that has been preserved from the Mayans and that was translated into Spanish, is called the men men of corn. In fact, Men of Corn It is also the title of one of Asturias' books.

The second dish, set on Lake Petén Itzá, covers the period between 2000 BC and the Pre-Classical era. We'll talk about the Maya and the Olmecs, and we'll continue until we reach the present day. The dish dedicated to the conquest is set in Iximché in 1524 and is the fifth on the menu: it was the first city to become Spanish. At that time, it was the capital of the Kaqchiquel, an ethnic group that had been one of the most powerful militarily in the pre-Hispanic period and overcame the colonists. The city was renamed Santiago de los Caballeros and later Antigua. The dish proposed is a gazpacho made with products from Guatemala and a slice of peach. A fruit that for them didn't exist until the Spanish brought it.

Another example is the dish inspired by the manuscript Cakchiquel either Tecpán-Atitlán Memorial, in which the authors portray the nostalgia for the origins of their ethnic myths. The dish they serve is inspired by the temal (a traditional Mexican dish) and has brought tears to more than one person's eyes. At Sublime, they affirm that "they believe in the power of gastronomy to change a nation." They defend that "through this platform, a cultural identity can be known and strengthened, generating sustainable socioeconomic change."

Both Debora Fadul and Sergio Díaz have been clear from the beginning that before explaining themselves to the world, they need to explain themselves. This small country with 360 microclimates, 23 languages, and a thousand-year history has found new warriors in the kitchen who refuse to accept that the future is that of a subjugated people.