Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, will visit Peru to participate in the closing ceremony for the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ), it has been reported.
"Da Silva's visit is a recognition of the Peruvian government's initiatives aimed at revaluing and promoting the production and consumption of quinoa in the country," said Milton Von Hesse, head of the country's Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry.
The event will take place on Monday, December 16th, and will be attended by Peru's President Ollanta Humala Tasso and First Lady and FAO Special Ambassador for the IYQ, Nadine Heredia, among other government's senior officials.
Likewise, the International Quinoa Recipe Book: Tradition and innovation will be presented by FAO at the closing ceremony. Over 60 recipes from world-renowned chefs and Andean indigenous communities form part of the international recipe book.
As the title suggests, this book brings tradition and innovation together, in a unique collection of quinoa-inspired dishes (starters, main courses, desserts and drinks) originating from a wide variety of continents, which highlight quinoa’s versatility as an ingredient that can be easily incorporated into cuisines from all over the world.
Diverse ingredients, flavours and cooking methods, as well as different cultures, come together in this book whose goal is to further promote the cultivation and consumption of quinoa on a global level and to reach the plate of those suffering the most from food insecurity.
Contributions were made by top chefs such as Joan Roca (Spain), Claus Meyer (Denmark), André Chiang (Singapore) and Claude Troisgros (Brazil), among others, who created new dishes for the recipe book.
In addition, communities from Peru and Bolivia have shared their recipes, mainly through local non-governmental organizations in the Andean region, to enrich this book by adding the important element of tradition.
FAO has confirmed that the two Special Ambassadors for the International Year of Quinoa, Peruvian First Lady Nadine Heredia and Bolivian President Evo Morales, will continue their roles through 2014, which is the International Year of Family Farming.