The University of La Laguna will celebrate Book Day next Wednesday, April 23, with a program of events whose main activity is the opening of the exhibition “From the Kitchen to the Books: Foods that Tell Our Story”The exhibition, which focuses on the history of food in the Canary Islands and also addresses aspects of nutrition and gastronomy, will officially open on the 23rd at 11:30 a.m. in the General and Humanities Library of the Guajara Campus. It will remain open until June 20th, Monday to Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
In addition to the exhibition, the traditional fundraising event by the Association will also take place at 11:00 a.m. ULL Alumni, This year, the focus is on acquiring materials for the Old and Canary Islands collections of the Library Service.
Following the opening of the exhibition, at 12:30 the round table “Canarian eating habits and customs” will be held, moderated by Nestor Benitez, Professor of Nutrition and Food Science, with the participation of Rubén Barroso, gastronome and researcher at IPNA-CSIC; Silvia Santa Sosa, member of the Professional Association of Dietitians-Nutritionists of the Canary Islands; and Carlos Díaz, Professor of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of La Laguna, who will be.
That same afternoon, at 5:00 p.m., the first of the workshops organized for this celebration will take place: “Canarian cuisine of product: an avant-garde cuisine of the 21st century, taught by Josué Mendoza, chef and gastronomic advisor of the Colectivo Cocina Canalla (Registration is requiredThe following workshops will be: on April 29, cheese tasting by María Fresno, ICIA Program Coordinator; on May 5, “Masterclass Cooking with Suns and Stars, a High-Level Proposal”, by Babacar Fall, chef of Char Fuego y Brasas; on May 7, honey tasting workshop, by Zoa Hernández, technician at Casa de la Miel; and on May 12, “Experiences and Pleasures: Tastings of Milk, Salt, and Other Memorable Products”, by Patricia Almeida, sommelier, and Ramón Ramos, chef.
In addition, on April 24 at 5:00 p.m., the professor from the Department of Art History and Philosophy Gonzalo Pavés He will give the lecture “Honey on Flakes. Gastroeroticism in the cinema of Bigas Luna.
Bibliographic exhibition
The exhibition, which opens on the 23rd, consists of a series of explanatory panels designed specifically for the occasion, contextualizing the books, magazines, and other documents that are part of the rich collections of the university library. These are centered on this year's chosen theme: food in the Canary Islands, tracing its history from the aboriginal inhabitants to the present day, addressing the main foods consumed, their preparation and preservation, and the nutritional values of traditional dishes and recipes, among other aspects.
The exhibition features documents that chronicle the relationship between the Canary Islands and the Americas, as the islands became the starting and ending point for transatlantic voyages, serving as a mandatory stop and resupply point. The first sugarcane, wheat, lettuce, eggplant, and hundreds of other vegetables, as well as various animals, were shipped from the archipelago. And it was the entry point for products such as potatoes, corn, tomatoes, peppers, and chocolate, among others.
The exhibition explains the succession of different export crops during the Modern Age, and also accounts for raw materials typical of the islands such as goat meat, gofio, fresh and salted fish, coastal shellfish, potatoes and fruit, which have merged with foreign influences, giving rise to traditional Canarian gastronomy.
Another section is dedicated to the relationship between diet and health in the Canary Islands, and the use of food itself as medicinal remedies for various illnesses. There is also space for family recipe books from the library's collections, which offer insight into what people ate and how they prepared it.
Among the works on display, highlights include a first edition from 1766 of “Arte cisoria” by the Marquis Enrique de Villena, one of the first treatises on the art of carving; and “Cocina ideal sencilla y económica: arte de preparado sabrosos y exquisitos platos para diferentes gustos y ocasión” by Mrs. Martín, pseudonym of Luis Ruíz Contreras (1863-1953), writer of the Generation of '98, great friend of Baroja and Azorín and author of three recipe books.
The academic team for the exhibition has been made up of the professors from the University of La Laguna, Néstor Benítez, Magdalena Echezarreta, Jesus de las Heras, José Pascual y Elena Rodríguez. The Library Service team has consisted of Sonia García, Carmen Lahuerta, Inés Diego and Ismael García, and there has also been a volunteer group made up of Paz Fernández, Carmen Gómez and Alberto García.
Like my story
Apart from the activities organized by the Library Service, the University-schools network project FUBE of the Language and Literature Didactics Area of the Faculty of Education of the University of La Laguna has organized the initiative “Like my story”, which will take place on April 23 in six points of the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, aimed at students of Early Childhood and Primary Education.
The city will be transformed into a grand stage for oral storytelling, where stories will be told, read, dramatized, or presented in an illustrated format, depending on each participating group's choice. "Like My Story" fosters creativity, teamwork, and a love of reading, and aims to bring literature closer to students' immediate surroundings. Each story will be accompanied by a QR code that will allow passersby to interact with the activity and express their support by giving a vote ("like"), a fusion of the literary and the digital that connects with students' contemporary language.
Teachers and students from six educational centers in the municipality are participating (CEIP Aneja, CEIP San Benito, CEIP Camino de la Villa, CEIP Montaña Pacho, CEIP Las Chumberas and CEIP Cardonal I),
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