Central America cuisine highlighted in exhibition

Still on the subject of food, this morning the Image Factory launched “A Feast for the Senses: Central American Cuisine”. According to John Morris, Director of Research and Education at the Institute of Archaeology, the exhibition is designed to highlight the unique ways food unites the region.

John Morris, Director, Research and Education, Institute of Archaeology
“We have a vibrant cultural heritage in Central America that’s a combination of indigenous and African and Spanish mix and so that has produced a remarkable diversity yet somewhat unified culture in Central America. For instance in Belize, we have seven or eight different ethnic groups yet we all share a liking for rice and beans, we all share a liking for foods made from corn such as tamales, escabeche and it’s a combination of all those kinds of things that makes Belize what it is today and that is what we are trying to demonstrate here. And we are also trying to trace a little bit the history of those foods; they go back thousands of years. Take, like somebody said, the popcorn invention, it’s not a movie theatre invention, it was actually used by the Aztecs, the Mayans and other ancient cultures, and they were used for decoration purposes. When the Spaniards got here, they saw these things and they were amazed.”

Feast for the Senses will be on display at the Image Factory for one month before going on to the Houses of Culture in Orange Walk and Benque and the George Price Centre in Belmopan. The exhibition is a collaborative effort between the Institute of Archaeology and the National Museums of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama. It is sponsored by the Swedish International Agency for Development.