The lushest department in Colombia, Chocó is also paradoxically the poorest. For decades, the conflict between the government and guerrilla groups forced locals to choose between displacement and uncertain survival.
Often caught between the fights of opposite groups or indiscriminately attacked, civilians fled in waves to Quibdo, Choco's capital city, sacrificing their rural lifestyle for security, in a new, unfamiliar urban environment short of opportunities. Adding to this precarious condition, in Colombian society machismo still dominates the family life and women are often left to care for themselves as single mothers, so their need for mutual protection and independence often pushed them seek each other's help.
Many of them started to think of cooking, the most traditional feminine skill, as an opportunity to transfer women's agency out of the household and into society, earn a living and achieve independence.
We interviewed women involved in this field to understand how food and the preservation of its traditions have helped them fight for their rights, while collecting their testimonies of the conflict.
