Season 2 of Chef’s Table, the acclaimed documentary series, was released on Netflix last Friday. If you didn’t spend the whole weekend binge-watching it already - you should probably clear your schedule to catch up.
SPOILER ALERT: Brazilian chef Alex Atala is a total badass.
As a teen, Atala’s love of punk-rock -- not food -- drew him to Europe, where he made his way by painting walls to support himself. It was only when his visa neared its expiry date that Atala decided to give cooking a try. He enrolled in cooking school to get his visa extended; after graduating, he worked as a chef in French and Italian restaurants before realizing that the cuisine he knew best was his own: Brazilian.
Today, his two Michelin-starred restaurant D.O.M is rated the best in South America and among the best in the world. D.O.M features the indigenous flavors of the Amazon. When Atala opened D.O.M in 1999, these ingredients were rarely used, even in Brazil. Modern Brazilian food culture had a tendency to follow that of Europe, preferring rich European cooking over local ingredients and techniques. Saúva ants are commonly eaten by some indigenous tribes, but have been considered by most Brazilians to be a food source reserved for only for the most desperate of times - certainly not a delicacy. But Atala is challenging this perception by serving the ants, whose flavor Atala compares to ginger and lemongrass, at D.O.M.
[Side note: if you’ve ever sipped on Campari or had a strawberry Frappucino at Starbucks, you’ve definitely already had a helping of bug juice.]
Atala grew up fishing and hunting in the rainforest with his father and grandfather. This connection with nature was a seminal part of his childhood and is reflected today in his cooking. His belief that the true flavors of Brazilian cuisine can only be found in the Amazon rainforest itself stems from these memories and his bond with nature. This is also precisely why Atala pushed back against the norm of Brazilian fine dining, which has traditionally focused on French and Italian cuisines.
His cooking forgoes caviar, truffles, and all the usual luxuries in favor of gems from the Amazon rainforest like tucupi, açai, and ants. He is both raising awareness for and elevating the status of “eating local.”
By using Amazonian flavors unfamiliar to most, his cooking encourages people to keep an open mind about their food sources. Atala doesn’t stop there either. He wants more people to acquire a taste for these unique flavors, but doesn’t want to see the these indigenous communities exploited or the environment destroyed. He is determined not to let a craving for the bounty of the Amazon go the way of quinoa trend, wreaking havoc on economies and farms.
Atala hopes a wider audience will appreciate these delicacies, but not at any cost. His greatest fear is that the food supply chain will place too much pressure on ecosystems and encourage deforestation. To that end, Atala founded the ATA Institute, a foundation that aims to raise awareness of these ingredients and related environmental issues, to support their sustainable production and distribution, and to generate income for local farmers. The ATA Institute also seeks to preserve biodiversity and works with farmers of ants, chilies, vanilla, and honey.
This January, Atala, with the ATA Institute, opened a market in São Paulo that brings the biodiversity of the Amazon to the city. The market carries spices and produce from the Amazon sustainably grown and harvested by the indigenous communities who grow these goods traditionally.
The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world -- containing much of the world’s biodiversity. Unfortunately, it has lost 17% of its mass to deforestation in the last five decades, meaning that the indigenous people who live in the Amazon are in danger of losing their homes and livelihoods.
Indigenous communities who live in the Amazon have successfully managed and preserved their land for hundred of years. In fact, the rate of deforestation in forest in areas of the Amazon occupied by indigenous tribes is 11 times lower than other parts of the forest. But as Brazil experiences political turmoil, the rights of its indigenous people to their land are being threatened. This in turn is a threat to the rainforest and environment, presenting yet another obstacle in the fight against climate change.
Atala hopes to empower indigenous communities to support themselves and the environment through the sustainable production of these tasty ingredients. He believes that “food is the crossroads between culture and nature” and wants to use that crossroads to create something both delicious and powerful.
If you can’t picture yourself eating a sustainably farmed ant and liking it, watch Atala on Chef’s Table.