January
1997
Soy
in Guatemala
By Steve Karian
|
|
|
Is it inevitable that the developing
countries will follow the destructive meat/dairy path of the
industrial world? Maybe not. Steve Karian and Jennifer Relin recently
had an educational/work experience that gives reason for hope.
In summer 1995, Jennifer Relin and I spent two months each in the Sierra
Madre mountains of Guatemala, supporting a small soyfood factory called
Alimentos San Bartolo, owned and operated by an indigenous Cakchiquel
community near the city of Solola. As graduate students with the Tufts
School of Nutrition, Jenn and I were doing our internship work with the
global development agency Plenty International, which helped establish
the soyfood factory over 15 years ago. Plenty International was founded
in 1974 as the global arm of an "alternative"žsustainable communal settlement
in Tennessee named simply The Farm. Supervised by a soy technician from
Plenty, our mission was to help the factory by promoting knowledge of
soyfood in the area. We gave cooking classes to commercial restaurants
and at local house gatherings of indigenous Guatemalan women; we prepared
a cookbook which featured familiar, traditional dishes made with soy;
and we gave several nutritional presentations for doctors, health workers,
and cafeteria staff at the regional hospital in Solola. Jenn also helped
out at a near-by soup kitchen/nursery school.
Although soy is a new food in Guatemala, we found that it was well-accepted
among those who have become familiar with it. Thanks to the dedicated
volunteer work of Plenty International, which first came to Guatemala
after the 1974 earthquake, soy has a solid base of support in the country.
Plenty's initial soy program involved several components: agricultural
research coordinated with local farmers to identify the soybean varieties
most adaptable to the local climate; cooperative labor with community
volunteers to build the soy factory; and free food distribution programs
to help alleviate some of the chronic protein-calorie malnutrition in
the area. While soy ice-cream is today the best-known and fastest-selling
product offered by the factory's retail outlet in the Solola market,
other products are also available, including soy flour, soy milk, "soy
cheese" (tofu), and "soy meat" (tempeh).
One of the most rewarding aspects of our work was getting to know the
people, and the Solola area. The people were generous and friendly. Close
to Solola is the tourist town of Panajachel, where indigenous folks and
progressive-minded resident internationals live side by side. "Pana" provides
fertile ground for many "new age" practices such as acupuncture, solar
energy, bicycle transportation, holistic health, herbal healing, and
vegetarianism. The whole area is graced by the deep-blue grandeur of
Lake Atitlan (unfortunately polluted for lack of an adequate sewer system).
In contrast to the Solola area is Guatemala City, the capital, dominated
by some of the worst aspects of U.S. commercial culture. "Guat City" has
congested traffic, polluted air, an overload of abrasive commercial billboards,
and, of course, lots of McDonald's, Burger Kings, Pizza Huts, and local
imitators. The McDonald's promotion campaign includes free beefburger
give-aways on Teacher Day, cash donations to local firefighters, and
heavy advertising in the daily papers. When Jenn and I saw a McDonald's
ad bragging that "whenever we open our doors, we open our hearts," the
two of us had to wonder if the giant burger company was referring to
open-heart surgery.
Our experience in Guatemala convinced Jenn and I that, to a large extent,
the future path of development for the poorer countries of the world
is still to be decided. While some commercial forces are promoting the
U.S. meat/dairy culture as the wave of the future, other, more progressive
forces are offering plant-centered options. Soy grows well in Central
America, and is a delicious way to diversify the traditional diet of
corn tortillas, beans, rice, and salad. The more that local communities
grow, process, and distribute new, positive food options, the greater
the chances that developing countries might develop their own modern,
sustainable, plant-centered food models.
Steve Karian is a graduate student at the
Tufts School of Nutrition and a member of the Board of the
Boston Vegetarian Society (BVS). This article is excerpted
from the BVS newsletter with permission. To contact the BVS,
write to P.O. Box 38-1071, Cambridge, MA 02238-1071.
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
© STEALTH TECHNOLOGIES INC. |
|
