Food First Explores Oaxaca’s Food Heritage, Celebrates Guelaguetza on Educational Tour, July 2014

May 6, 2014 - PRLog -- OAKLAND, Calif., May 6, 2014—“Sin maíz, no hay país!” (“Without corn, we have no country!”) is a popular battle cry in Oaxaca, Mexico. As the cornerstone of Mesoamerican agriculture and diet, corn or maize is at the heart of the region’s ongoing struggle for food sovereignty. This July, Food Sovereignty Tours offers the public an opportunity to explore current food issues in this diverse region of Mexico and participate in the festival of Guelaguetza as part of a guided delegation.

Located in the highlands of south-central Mexico, Oaxaca is an important site of agro-biodiversity, cultural diversity and hundreds of years of cultural exchanges and trade. Participants will explore the cultural and historical context of Oaxaca’s food traditions, while also hearing firsthand from peasants and activists working to preserve, defend and strengthen Mexican food systems in the face of numerous threats to rural livelihoods and ecosystems.

Additionally, participants will be in Oaxaca during a very special time when the region’s indigenous peoples come together in celebration of the values that bind community, culture and nature. The festival of Guelaguetza is celebrated with vibrant costumes, traditional music and dance, and the sharing of ritual foods and dishes. An incredible array of native foods are in the spotlight, including elaborate moles, countless corn-based dishes, mezcal (a tequila-like spirit), chocolate, chilies, chapulines (grasshopper) and huitlacoche—a fungus that grows on corn and is harvested as an earthy, smoky delicacy sometimes referred to as “Mexican truffles.”

This Food Sovereignty Tour is more than a culinary excursion. Unlike most food tours of Oaxaca, this delegation provides insights into the links between the region’s rich food culture and its equally rich history of community-based struggles for autonomy, democracy, sustainability and cultural survival.

The Food Sovereignty Tour to Oaxaca will take place July 18–26, 2014, and is open to the public. Partial scholarships are available for qualified applicants on a first-come, first-served basis. The mission of Food Sovereignty Tours is to build the global movement for food sovereignty through solidarity travel and immersion learning. Food Sovereignty Tours is a program of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, which has been called one of the “most established food think tanks” by the New York Times.

Visit the Food Sovereignty Tours website: www.foodfirst.org/tours for more information or contact the Program Coordinator directly.