Women in the rural world
Cuisine, or gastronomy to be more precise, is poised to be a lifeline for depopulated areas, an attraction that can help retain rural populations and protect ecosystems. But to achieve this, rural chefs and their restaurants need all the support they can get.
Our role, as customers, is to visit them frequently. And the role of politicians is to adopt measures that facilitate the already complex management of these businesses. The same applies to farmers and ranchers, representatives of a rural world harassed and persecuted by the European Union with its disgraceful policies, who refuse to let this world disappear, buried under restrictive legislation dictated by bureaucrats in Brussels.
In this defense of rural life, women play a fundamental role. Benjamín Lana, head of the Gastronomy division at Vocento, clearly understood this when he launched Féminas four years ago, an international congress dedicated to “Gastronomy, Women, and the Rural World,” which celebrated its fourth edition in October. The Association for Rural Development of the Central Mountains of Asturias also clearly understands this, awarding the María Luisa García prizes annually. These prizes are named in memory of a woman whose traditional cookbooks, published in the second half of the last century, elevated the status of women cooks. The awards recognize women who have dedicated their lives to cooking, enriching and preserving culinary culture, whether as producers or entrepreneurs who strengthen the local economy and maintain rural heritage.
This year, the award-winning chefs were Viri Fernández, of El Llar de Viri in Candamo, for her pioneering role and role as a leading figure in traditional Asturian cuisine; and, at the national level, Rosa Macías, of Bar FM in Granada, who in forty years transformed a modest neighborhood bar into a benchmark for product-driven cuisine in Spain. Another award went to Rocío Martínez, an artisanal producer of faba beans under the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Faba Asturiana. This is particularly important in a year in which excessive rainfall has severely impacted the production of these legumes.
And the rural development award goes to Verónica Gutiérrez for revitalizing her grandparents' village, Hueria de Urbiés, the highest in the Turón valley, with initiatives such as creating a traditional bar and shop and restoring rural accommodations. Four women who represent that defense of a rural world that we should never lose.
