Benjamín Lana, the new director of the congress, presented the talk by Leonor Espinosa (Leo, Bogotá) as one of the most interesting at this congress, and this was certainly due to the contents and also to the way she presented it. According to Lana, she is "one of very few chefs who succeed in changing the mindset of a generation in a country, and even in a continent. She's a culture activist with a completely disruptive perspective". Using ingredients from all over the country and even from other civilisations, "she's cooked up impossible recipes. And she's made chefs in her country want to cook Colombia”.

The Colombian chef's talk began with a screening of the documentary ‘Pozoneros. Sin adjetivos’ [People in El Pozón. No adjectives], to give congress-goers a little more information on Colombian cuisine, and the country's complicated situation and evolution. The story is told through the lives of five female "leader" chefs in Colombia who narrate their lives, how the conflict hit them hard, and what cooking means to them.

 
After the documentary, the chef took the floor to explain her project in El Pozón, a district of Cartagena which has some serious problems, and is geographically in close proximity to the armed conflict. “There are challenges and problems because most of the local people live below the breadline", she explained. “Crime is a constant, and the documentary has this title because when people say they live there, they always add a pejorative adjective", added the chef.

Like all problems, there are a few possible solutions: “Investment in infrastructures, economic development and job programme, better housing, investment in local people's security, quality education and medical care are a few of them", she told the congress. Espinosa's Funleo foundation, with the slogan Gastronomy for Development, sets out the strengthen the social fabric by promoting Caribbean cuisine and local enterprise with a community restaurant and a market selling local produce. “It's a very ambitious project which will generate welfare, and that's why we're looking for economic assistance", she said.

Soul, not technique

On the gastronomic side of things during the talk, Espinosa discussed food in El Pozón: “Rice is a symbol of freedom in Colombia, and crab is an identity recipe. It's a very different rice, using a crab stew base". The congress-goers tasted this recipe.

Before she finished up, Espinosa wanted to send a message to the youngest chefs, and the message was "technique should never take precedence over soul". And her cuisine is "cookery that prints out the soul and is associated with creativity, passion and gastronomic culture. That, not technique, is the real raison d'être of cookery. What prevails in my culinary range is that deep connection with culture and gastronomic tradition", she concluded.