COMO SUR BEST OF 2013 AWARDS

Como Sur, South America’s leading digital magazine on gastronomy, just held their “Best Of 2013 Awards” where Gustu was voted “Best Restaurant in South America”, “Best New Restaurant” and Kamilla Seidler “Best headchef” on the continent by the readers. Thousands of votes flooded in from all over the world, according to Como Sur.

MADRID FUSION 2014

For the first time in the history of the gastronomic festival Madrid Fusion, chefs from a Bolivian restaurant were invited to speak. ”The festival was closed with a lot of future”, Gastón Acurio summed up from the stage, after Gustu headchef Kamilla Seidler and Managing Director Michelangelo Cestari’s presentation.

Gustu was also described as “one of this year’s true revelations” and Kamilla Seidler was furthermore pointed out as one of ten chefs worldwide to watch in 2014. Three of these chefs are based in South America, which tells the story of a kitchen in continued progress, and 2014 seems to pick up where 2013 ended: with profound recognition of the gastronomic scene in South America. In 2013 Astrid y Gastón (Peru) moved up from 36 to 14 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, Central (Peru) entered the list for the first time, and Alex Atala appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.

“The whole Gustu team is overwhelmed by these honours only 10 months after opening the restaurant”,Kamilla Seidler says, “and we are very proud of the fact that we use 100% locally produced ingredients. But the most important thing to remember is that this is about the young people in the food school, their profession and future and the suppliers’ right to also be able to feed their own children”.

The food school, which is an integral part of the restaurant, gives the socially disadvantaged young people in South America’s poorest country an education as culinary entrepreneurs. The food school currently has 27 students.

When gourmet-restaurant GUSTU was inaugurated on the 4th of April 2013, it was a temporary climax of two years of hard work that began in 2010, when Claus Meyer together with IBIS decided to establish a food school and start a food movement in Bolivia.

GUSTU has been realized by the Melting Pot Bolivia Foundation. The Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries, IFU, is co-investor.

MELTING POT was founded by Claus Meyer in 2010. The fund’s objective is, through initiatives that have food, food craft and entrepreneurship as common elements to improve future opportunities and quality of life for disadvantaged people. See more on clausmeyer.dk
MELTING POT BOLIVIA is a foundation established by Claus Meyer and IBIS. The foundation has two purposes:

•  To educate and provide socially disadvantaged young Bolivians with the opportunity to become a generation of grassroot entrepreneurs, who will be able to lift their families and communities out of poverty and hunger.
•  To foster a food movement, based on the idea that a revitalized Bolivian food culture can promote health, education, employment and ultimately economic growth in this country.

More on Melting Pot Bolivia

BOLIVIA – SOUTH AMERICA’S POOREST COUNTRY
Bolivia has one of the most culturally complex societies in South America with 36 indigenous groups. 60 percent of the population lives in poverty, and especially the country’s indigenous peoples are vulnerable. In La Paz slums 42% of children under 5 are malnourished or undernourished and Bolivia has the highest rate of illiteracy and the lowest average schooling in the region.

THE BOLIVIAN FOOD MOVEMENT
Claus Meyer and representatives from Melting Pot Bolivia, met in 2010 and 2011 with the grassroots in Bolivia from Cochabamba, St. Cruz and La Paz to present the idea of ​​a food movement. These grassroots started on the basis of these meetings to prepare proposals for the project’s ideology. The goal of the food movement is to create economic and social progress in Bolivia by bringing together all the major players in a coherent effort to increase the value of food exports and tourism.

Melting Pot Bolivia, the Danish Embassy and a number of NGOs organised the food festival TAMBO, in La Paz in October 2012. In this context, a 3-day symposium with more than 400 participants and 35 speakers on the new Bolivian cuisine was held. Key actors in the food and agricultural sector from across the country came together to discuss and eventually sign the Bolivian food manifest. Today, more than 100 different Bolivian organizations and NGOs are involved in the Bolivian food movement called MIGA. Tambo 14 wll take place in La Paz in the beginning of October 2014

CONTACT:
Kamilla Seidler · GUSTU · ks@meltingpot-bolivia.org
Michelangelo Cestari · GUSTU · mcestari@restaurantgustu.com