02x05 - Bogotá, Colombia

[bunniefuu]

The confidence to believe in yourself

is something that doesn't come
from one day to the next.

It takes time.

Every day that passes,

you have to wake up stronger.

Work...

persevere...

because you have a purpose.

You have dreams to fulfill.

No matter the obstacles
and distractions around you,

you have to believe.

If you believe in yourself
and in what you do,

and you have faith in yourself,

you're going to be great.

You'll be happy forever.

THE PERSERVERANCE MARKET

Bogotá and Colombia
have a stereotype

of being involved in drug trafficking.

We had to deal with

an internal armed conflict...

that almost destroyed our society.

These kinds of things

weigh heavy on our identity
and the way we see ourselves.

Everyone came to Bogotá
for different reasons,

because they were displaced
by violence,

but also because it became a place

that attracted people to search
for new opportunities.

So there's an amazing representation
of all types of cuisine

from around the country.

We have a bit of everything.

Arepas, of course.

Tamales are very important.

Bandeja Paisa,

and an amazing diversity of soups.

It's incredible.

Today, La Perseverancia Market
is one of the most important areas

in terms of recognition of this food.

When you enter
into La Perseverancia Market today,

you live an adventure
because you don't know what you'll find.

Can you give me some garlic?

You see all the ladies cooking

with their stews, the aromas,
and their good spirit.

It's a big restaurant
of Colombian cuisine.

And there one finds Tolú...

TOLÚ, CARIBBEAN CUISINE

...the kitchen of Luz Dary.

It's a very small space, like the others.

But it has an energy.

She welcomes you with a hug,

and it makes a difference.

-Thank you!
-Good bye.

Traditionally, she has been known
for her cheese mote soup,

but many people come today
for her ajiaco,

one of the most traditional soups
in Bogotá,

even though she's a Caribbean cook.

She's become an important figure
who is leading a movement

of bringing the people of Bogotá
back to the food markets

to celebrate their diversity.

Hello!

-Hello.
-Hello.

How are you?

How much for the yams?
There's no more left?

-They're gone.
-Oh, no!

But I'll take some eggplants that I want,
okay?

-Yes, ma'am.
-How much for the eggplants?

Fifteen hundred a pound.

Okay, let's take some eggplants.

I grew up in the Caribbean coast.

Watching my mother cook.

And playing on the beaches of Tolú.

But I was raised in Bogotá.

So my heart is split in two,

and my food is a mixture
of these two flavors.

I want these.

So when I go to the market
in the morning...

Thank you.

...I buy guasca,

vegetables, I buy aromatics.

I pick something up here,
get something else.

I talk to people.

-Thank you, Don Miguel.
-Thank you for your purchase.

It's for my mote.
I already have the yams.

The only thing missing was the cheese.

It's a dance.

I can make mote de queso,

a Caribbean soup
made of yams and cheese.

Or I can also make an ajiaco,

which is Bogotá's soup.

All it takes is three potatoes,
chicken, corn, and guascas...

I love it.

Colombian cuisine has so many flavors,
smells, colors,

and I want the entire world
to know about it.

Colombia's greatest strength

is its biodiversity.

We have deserts, snow, rainforests...

two coasts,
the Pacific and the Caribbean.

And in the world of gastronomy,

that's our greatest asset.

MARY
THE GREAT FLAVORS OF THE PACIFIC

María, do you know what I need?

Some spectacular patacones.

I was born in Chocó, on the Pacific coast.

I had no job there,

so 23 years ago

I came here to the capital to find work.

I took over this stand
at La Perseverancia Market,

and I've been here for 18 years.

MARY'S CORNER

María.

-María?
-Yes, ma'am?

Okay, it's your turn to clean the bar.

I sell authentic food

from the Pacific coast.

Food from the Pacific
is very different than the Caribbean.

They use coconut milk too,

but their herb seasoning

makes it stand out.

We eat a lot of different herbs,

long coriander, pennyroyal, oregano.

Those are Pacific flavors.

All of my dishes are popular,
but my most famous dish

is the "mattress breaker."

It's a fish broth
with a coconut milk base,

and, of course, our Pacific herbs.

It's called "mattress breaker"

because the man gets so much energy
after he drinks this broth,

that he can't control himself in bed.
That's why it's called "mattress breaker."

Yes?

When I was 18 years old,

all I thought about was dancing.

And dancing, and more dancing...

-How much for that yerba buena?
-Two thousand.

Give me the other one then.
This one looks good.

This one looks good.

And that's how I met Pedro.

He asked me to dance.

And we danced.

Hello, good morning. How are you?

-Good, ma'am.
-Very cold?

-How much is the laurel?
-Two thousand.

For the bunch? Okay.

I was his girlfriend for two years,

and then we got married.

And two years later
my son Eric was born.

I was very happy.

Thank you. Bye!

But as time passed,

Pedro's drinking became a problem.

Each day it got worse and worse.

He would go missing...

and he would beat me.

It was terrible.

I feared for my son.

It was very tough everyday.

And finally I couldn't take it anymore,

I had to do something about it.

I took my son...

and I left.

I was born in Boyacá, in the countryside.

They plant lots of corn
and potatoes there.

The land is great for agriculture.

But at the age of twelve,
I was displaced by the violence,

and I came to Bogotá with my sister.

That's when I started making
my empanadas and arepas.

I was just making them
at home for my family,

and then I started to sell them.

And they were very popular
and I made a lot of sales.

So I built my clientele,

and I started working
at La Perseverancia Market in 1980.

Do you like it?

I've been here for over 40 years.

It's was delicious, thank you very much.

Here in Bogotá and Colombia,
there are many different kinds of arepas.

The one I make
is made with hominy corn.

I process it, I cook it and grind it.

They have cheese inside.

The key to my business
is it's all homemade.

It's exquisite,

very tasty.

When you eat an arepa
like Doña Berta's arepas,

it's as if you were eating
at your grandmother's.

It's a direct reference to emotion,
to nostalgia.

After I left Pedro...

I had to work.

So I decided to cook.

Thank you, God,
for all the gifts you are giving me.

Bless all my people, my family,

my restaurant, and you.
Thank you for this day.

I got a stall at La Concordia market...

THE CONCORD MARKET

...and named it...

Tolú.

As a tribute to where I grew up.

The first dishes I served were

fried tilapias,

mote de queso,

and coconut rice.

My Caribbean cuisine.

My first clients were students,

because near La Concordia

there were many universities.

And they liked my food.

They told me, "Luz Dary, you're good."

That meant a lot to me.

And the business grew

through word-of-mouth.

The students called me Mamá Luz.

It was a mutual love.

They became like my children.

They gave me confidence.

I felt like a woman who could.

My restaurant became

the most important thing I had.

TOLÚ RESTAURANT

Markets are extremely important in Bogotá.

It's where we meet.
It's where we share a table.

All of us, from different jobs,
social class, color,

from different places.

It's where you find the best food
in the city.

We've been at this market the longest.

We're sisters.

She's our mother.

She's been here at the same market
for 74 years.

Some of us kids fell in love with cooking.
We're still at it.

So here we are.

I make tamales from Tolima.

Each region of the country
has their own tamale.

The ingredients I use are porva corn,

chicken, pork meat and pork rind,

and I wrap it in a plantain leaf.

Colombia's diversity can be expressed

in these tamales.

Open one of them and you can
smell the aroma of a different region.

I make Bandeja Paisa.

It's a dish from Medellín.

It is known

for the amount of food that comes
on the plate.

It has rice,

beans,

ground beef,

chorizo,

blood sausage,

and pork rind.

The Bandeja Paisa tastes like Colombia.

Mom taught us everything.

We'll both be here until we're her age.

I spent six magical years at La Concordia.

I was very happy.

Then, the government decided
to renovate the market,

and they evicted all the vendors.

All of us.

I was left with nothing.

I felt like they ripped my soul out.

They extinquished the fire inside me.

I was afraid to start over.

It was terrible.

A year passed.

I was broke.

I had to do something.

So I accepted a stall far away

at La Perseverancia Market.

When I got to La Perseverancia,
it was very quiet.

There were no customers.

I would sell two, three lunches per day.

It was extremely hard because

I didn't have that human love
that I had at La Concordia.

I had no cooking gas.

I didn't know what to do.

I thought about leaving.

But I had nowhere to go.

That's when I realized I had to adapt...

and believe in myself.

I said to myself, "Stop crying.

Get to work."

I was already making Caribbean dishes.

But I was raised in Bogotá.

So I began experimenting
with local dishes,

like ajiaco,

Bogotá's traditional soup.

I was very determined.

I talked to big chefs.

I learned from them.

That's when my cooking started to evolve.

Let me finish the plating.

Rice, mojarra, mote, ajiaco.

I was mixing new flavors.

I was dancing again.

A lot more people started showing up.

The rest of the cooks in the market

took notice to what she was doing.

It was like...

something that--

A snowball that started growing.

All of us cooks
started believing in ourselves.

Each one of us,
in our two meter wide stalls,

felt like we could do amazing things.

We felt important.

We felt like real cooks

with our own flavors
and our own knowledge.

Rumor started to spread
all across the city.

"Hey, in La Perseverancia Market

you can eat pork elbow,

you can eat a boyacense stew,

you'll find 30 different soups."

And everybody started coming.

And in 2019,

the market was nominated

for the award for best Colombian food
in Bogotá.

I won the prize for the best ajiaco
in Bogotá.

It was like a revolution.

When you go into La Perseverancia Market,

you'll notice

it's crowded!

You have to stand and wait to get a table.

It's full of sounds, flavors, aromas,

and people from every social class
and background.

Together with all the cooks,

we united to improve this market

and we made it into what it is today.

La Perseverancia Market
is the food destination

that all Colombians needed.

I'm very proud and happy

of what we've achieved here,

because we worked hard for many years.

That market is a celebration
of our diversity.

And Luz became a symbol

for all of us

who wanted to be proud
and love our culture.

We all see ourselves in those women.

We're all from different parts
of the country.

We all have an amazing story to tell.

Okay, guys.

Today, Tolú's menu
will have mote de queso,

then we'll have a fish filet...

in coconut milk.

And lastly, our main dish,

-the ajiaco.
-Ajiaco.

TOLÚ
THE BEST AJIACO IN BOGOTÁ

-Good. Ready?
-Yes.

Let's get to work.

My journey has been long...

slow.

Filled with highs and lows.

But all of that has made me learn...

to have faith,

to love myself,

and to believe in my dreams.

And above all, I've learned to smile,

and...

to love, to sing, to dance.

That's who I really am.