Cooking up Dreams

Original title De ollas y sueños

Ernesto Cabellos’ deliciously documentary tells us that, in Peru, it’s not football, music, or politics that unites people, but food. With the rich diversity of delectable dishes on display in Cooking Up Dreams, it’s easy to see why. A country historically characterized by ethnic and economic differences, Peru has produced a complex cuisine that acts as a binding, integrative cultural force that it’s increasingly seen as a motor for social development. Cabellos travels the world to explore people’s appreciation of, and devotion to, the art of Peruvian cooking. In the Andes, birthplace of the potato, cooking in earth ovens connects people to their traditions and history. At the chicest restaurants in Lima, Madrid, London, New York, Amsterdam, and Paris, food is a bridge from one culture to another. In a humble tavern in the Amazon, it is a means of economic development.

Author/s Ernesto Cabellos

Ernesto Cabellos was born in Lima in 1968. In 1994, he founded Guarango, a non-profit association production house for development-oriented audio-visual projects. Director and producer of feature-length documentaries on to environmental conflicts in his country, such as the internationally-lauded “Choropampa: The Price of Gold” (2002) and “Tambogrande: Mangos, Murder and Mining” (2007). Cabellos now presents “Cooking Up Dreams” (2009), his third feature documentary, a film that explores a point of convergence in his home country: Peruvian cuisine. Cabellos is also working on a series of documentary shorts on the political violence in Peru from 1980-2000 in which close to 70,000 people were killed.

Research Ernesto Cabellos
Photography Ernesto Cabellos
Sound Takuo Shima and José Balado
Editing Antolín Prieto and Lessandro Sócrates