Cultural Values

Traditional Gastronomy

The local cuisine has clear Guarani roots which are slightly mixed with a Moorish Spanish influence. As is usual in the villages that migrate and interbreed, outward items such as clothing quickly change to help integration. On the contrary, food recipes are preserved since they are kept in the privacy of family homes.

The food from Iberá is based on sweet potato, manioc, corn, beans and squash, as well as other ingredients, which were brought to the area by the Jesuits or Criollos, such as beef, milk and cheese. Also bitter oranges, guavas and papaya are used for making sweets.

Cheesemaking

Some of these ingredients typical of the local culture, which replaced by others brought by the Spaniards, like wheat flour for bread. Manioc starch or corn flour were used for all sorts of "chipas" or bakery, which lead to wheat flour becoming very valuable, often paid for with hides to a collector who offered it in the islands and remote areas. Fire wood is scarce, so wood furnaces in northwestern Iberá are rare, although they can be found in areas closer to the espinillar. The best known cooking methods are: mboca (barbecued over embers); chyriry (fried) or mbychi (under the ashes).

Because of the risk of the house catching fire, the food preparation areas are usually separated from the main house, a feature seen in several ranches around the area. The “estrebe” is an essential element which is used to support pots and kettles over a fire avoiding direct contact with it. Another crucial element in the Corrientes’ kitchens was the mortar, usually used to grind corn for “locros” and porridges or to prepare the flour for other meals.

Barbacued beef

Manioc starch

Typical dishes are vanishing since family orchards are slowly disappearing and, as a consequence, it is hard to find the proper ingredients for them, causing not only a loss of identity, but also a reduction in the quality of food since the current diet is greatly reduced in the diversity of its products.

It would be interesting to consider a recovery of these gardens for self-sustenance or small-scale commercial purposes to improve the food quality for both residents and tourists, preserving traditional recipes and creating new ones adapted to a new public.

Favoring local development through responsible tourism implies not only avoiding activities which have a negative impact on the environment, but also respecting the local culture and tradition. It's simple: the value and attractiveness of a tourist destination increases if it can guarantee nature and culture in its purest state without it being artificially staged.