Garlic, onion and banana peels, sweet potato chips. Cabbage and vegetable stalks. The recipes presented in the semi-final of the reality show Escola de Sabores last Saturday (31 January) showed that parts of food that are normally discarded can be turned into a delicious and nutritious dish. The episode also revealed that reuse is already a practice among school cooks.
In Episode 7, the guest judge was chef Edson Leite, founder of the Peripheral Gastronomy Movement, where cooking is a tool for inclusion and food is an instrument of social transformation.
Antônia, from the Ribeirinha de Jordão Community (AC), prepared chicken with banana peel farofa and roasted banana that looked like a ‘canoe,’ said Edson Leite.
Ana Paula, from the Quilombola Community of Minaçu (GO), prepared the recipe ‘O que sobrou’ (What’s left over), a chicken and potato casserole with farofa made from stalks.
Tamires, from the Quilombola Community of São Lourenço do Sul (RS), made a pie with sautéed carrots and courgettes served with sweet potato chips.
Alison, from the Indigenous Community of São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM), prepared the winning dish: farofa made from manioc flour with meat, garlic and onions with the skin left on and roasted in the oven, served with a vinaigrette sauce with a hint of pepper. ‘You brought to your recipe the dry and wet ingredients that have important symbolism in cooking,’ said chef and permanent judge Rodrigo Oliveira.
Tamires left the programme but received a collective hug from the judges in recognition of her participation until the semi-final. ‘I represented the six quilombos of São Lourenço do Sul here. And I was enchanted by what I learned, the other cultures and the diversity of Brazil, which will certainly have an impact on my work,’ she said.
Final
Only three participants: a quilombo school cook, an indigenous school cook, and a riverside school cook, will be in the grand finale, which will air on 7 February at 12 noon on Band TV.
The reality show Escola de Sabores is a partnership between the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil and is broadcast by TV Band on Saturdays at 12 noon.
All previous episodes are available on the Centre of Excellence against Hunger’s YouTube channel: WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger – YouTube
Escola de Sabores
Broadcast:
Band: Saturdays at 12 noon
Sabor & Arte channel: Saturdays at 9 p.m., with reruns throughout the week
Terraviva channel: Sundays at 8 p.m.
Production: Newco Pay TV
Partnership: WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil, FNDE and ABC