Food culture in Chile is having a re-birth. Young Chileans are re-discovering the food of their ancestors which were forgotten through years of political unrest and dictatorships. Working with Universidad Catolica in Santiago, Chile guerilla research, user workshops, co-creation sessions and cultural immersion led to the development of a product concept; El Sabor de Chile.
When asked to rank food items from the most to the least Chilean, the initial results were surprising. Wine was down as ‘not at all Chilean’ but spaghetti with tomato sauce consistently made it into the top 5 most Chilean foods, along with chips, sushi & steak. Expecting to see empanadas, completos, pebre, pisco, pastel de choclo and potatoes high up the ranks, we were surprised to see them in the lower end. The questions around why this was the case led us to understand how Chileans had developed a disconnect between their traditional foods and those which are now available and glamourised.
User centred research methods and partnerships with chefs such as Rodolfo Guzman led us to discover the traditional foods of the Mapuche people which are the backbone of Chilean food. These ingredients were sourced, researched and packaged into the 10 different Chilean regions. A country which has such a vast mixture of terrains and climates means the ingredients are varied, plentiful and exciting.
A box per region was created. It contained ingredients native to the area with information about each ingredient, traditional cooking methods and flavour notes. The boxes also had recipe cards to teach young Chileans how they can use these ingredients in their homes.
El Sabor de Chile was researched and created by myself, Antonia Kreft, Viraj Joshi, Andy Butt & Simon Cundall. The product was exhibited at Universidad Catolica in 2017.