PANAMA; ROPA VIEJA SHREDDED BEEF, AJI PICANTE CHILLI SALSA, COCONUT PIGEON PEA RICE and MANGO SALAD
Panama is a lush and tropical narrow isthmus of land that connects North and South America to each other. Long before the Panama Canal was cut across its narrowest point joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (and revolutionising global trade routes when it was opened in 1914), Panama was a land bridge supporting vital trade routes between the Americas. In fact, Panama’s land bridge had been supporting Indigenous trade and cultural exchange for more than 13 thousand years before Europeans ‘discovered’ Panama in 1501. Before European contact Indigenous Panamanians enjoyed a communal food culture based on sharing the collected bounties of land, river and sea and the cultivation of maize, yuca, and plantains that were cherished ingredients. When Spanish colonists arrived in the 16 th century they introducing new culinary techniques (such as slow cooking to build flavour with a fragrant base of onion and garlic), and new ingredients such a...