The cause of the Bogota Wine and Food Festival, 2012, was to raise money for the Escuela Taller (cooking and craft school). The raised money will be used to educate dozens of underprivileged young people to train as internationally competitive cooks and chefs.
Escuela Taller is situated in the old city of La Candelaria. It was founded as Columbian arts and crafts training workshop in 2005 by the Ministry of Culture and Mayor of Bogota. It is a non-profit organization and offers arts and crafts education to underprivileged young people between 18 and 25.
I had an opportunity to visit the foundation with a couple of Festival attendees. Alberto Escovar, Director General, toured us the school. After the tour he offered us at their lunch restaurant, which opens to the public, delicious Columbian dishes prepared by the school chef-instructor. The photos are Tamale from Santandel (squarish one) with corn, chicken, pork and chickpeas, another Tamale from Tolima with rice, pork, carrot, green peas, and a deconstructed and recreated Ajiaco (potato soup with chicken and avocado).
The potato were flavorful. Here is the name of different kinds of potatoes used in the dish from the chef – papa criolla, papa pastusa, papa sabanera….
