Una nación también se construye desde el plato

Abstract

By 1870, Venezuela could not be yet considered like a true nation. This article aims to make a historical \nreconstruction of the process initiated by then, which produced not only the geographical cohesion of the \nincipient nation, but also build a national culinary corpus. During the long presidential term of Antonio \nGuzman Blanco (1870-1888 period), the first systematic attempt at national modernization was achieved \nexecuted. Thus, a set of measures related to the organization of the public administration, tothe development \nof a wide road network to connect the various regions, and to strengthening the political power at the \ncentral level were carried out in order to articulate the country to the world capitalist system. In this political \nproject there it was also necessary to found a new national myth, based on national symbols, which fed the \nRepublican collective imagination. Thus, a kind of national culinary corpus in the field of gastronomy was \nbuilt, quite different to the observed in different regions of the country. It included and highlighted the \nCaracas’ pavilion (pabellón caraqueño), later called creole native pavilion (pabellón criollo), as well as the \nHallaca –a traditional, particularly complex and festive dish. Both plates have become the most popular \nrepresentatives of Venezuelan cuisine, and therefore, they became key element for strengthening the sense \nof national belonging, and also the cultural identity of Venezuela’s inhabitants.