Festival celebrates traditional Tunisian cuisine

Modern culinary practices are putting Tunisia's unique food heritage at risk, attendees at a Boumerdès fair emphasized.

By Houda Trabelsi for Magharebia in Tunis – 03/12/10

Tunisian food-lovers and tourists enjoyed a showcase of the country's rich and varied traditional cuisine at a three-day event. Participants at the 7th edition of the Boumerdès Tastes of Culinary Heritage Festival, which ended November 28th, stressed the need to safeguard the country's gastronomic patrimony against the invading fast food culture.

Modern culinary practices usually depend on speed, absence of quality and overuse of chemicals at the expense of health, nutritional aspects and safety of taste, attendees complained. The food event coincided with Expo Zeitoliva, a unique fair aimed at celebrating Tunisia's world-famous olive oil.

"The olive oil that we inherited from our grandfathers has been gradually replaced by the so-called 'non-olive oil' or public oil," nutrition specialist Chiraz Gaaloul told Magharebia. "The full traditional bread has also been replaced by the artificial white bread under the pretext of development, and the biological kitchen has given way for the kitchen that depends on chemicals; something that made fast food take the place of traditional foods that have several health benefits."

Many Tunisians believe olive oil to be a health remedy. "It resists a lot of diseases. This is in addition to the full traditional bread that is beneficial for diet. Therefore, we have to return to our Tunisian nutrition habits that focus on biological materials, especially as good foods mean a way to protect our health against diseases," Gaaloul added.

In his turn, Association of the Maintenance of Boumerdès head Ezzedine Haj Mabrouk told Magharebia that "the city of Boumerdès, which is located on the Tunisian coast, has started since 2003 to organize an annual festival aimed at preserving Tunisian culinary heritage, promoting and celebrating it, and highlighting the benefits and features of traditional bread, which has traditionally been associated with olive oil."

He added that "the two items - olive oil and traditional bread - constitute the best basis for the Tunisian, Maghreb and Mediterranean kitchen".

"Thanks to this festival, our city managed within a short period of time to introduce our nutrition habits and to contribute to the revival of the old culinary heritage," the festival organizer added. "It has also managed to promote and celebrate the output of our heritage in terms of biological farming, which is now demanded all over the world, given that it's beneficial for health."

The event highlights also included a national culinary heritage contest, a cooking show with renowned chefs from Tunisia and the United States and a special program for foreign tourists promoting the concept of agro-culinary tourism.

For his part, chef and member of the International Slow Food Organization Rafik Tlatli told Magharebia: "The advantage of Tunisian traditional food is the slow cooking on fire, unlike the fast foods, which are harmful to health as shown by the testimony of specialists."

"I encourage traditional food, which we can make keep pace with these fast times without doing away with its natural components. I don't like the modern fast foods which have invaded the world and invaded the bellies of children and young people, leading to obesity and diseases," he added.

According to Hajja Mahbouba ben Fraj, a native of Boumerdès, "the problem is that today's girls no longer have enough time or interest to cook in the traditional way; something that made them resort to modern fast foods".

"Women today are working and have different interests other than the kitchen and domestic chores," Naima Miled said.

Still, time-honored Tunisian cooking had proved resilient against the ongoing changes in food habits. Many Tunisian home cooks are determined to pass on their culinary skills to their children.

"I'll teach my daughter what I have learnt from my mother, because our traditional foods are the basis for our table, and we can't just do away with them. Thank God, our traditional foods have been able to deal the fast foods a knock-out, and the large number of visitors in this festival is proof of that," Reem al-Swaie, 30, said.

"I don't think that modern foods will prevail over our traditional foods, because Tunisians prefer a special flavor that they find only in our traditional dishes," said Hnia Haj Mabrouk.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/12/03/feature-02.