Stories and flavors that awaken good memories

Recalling recipes and stories of people who have missed them, showing the power of cooking and gastronomy to make memories last forever. This is the objective of the Recipe for Saudade project, a partnership between Vatican and the Good Gourmet. Based on testimonials from family and friends, an e-book was created that brings together ten stories of affection and memory provided by cooking. The content is freely available here.

The 10 recipes contained in the book were selected from the register of readers who found out about the purpose of the action and decided to share this remarkable part of their trajectories and their families. “When I saw the inscription, I immediately remembered my father”, “Soon the memory of my grandmother’s house was lit”. These phrases and variations of them were constant during the interviews and show that memories of affection related to cooking only need a little boost to emerge.

“The pleasant memories bring a lot of comfort to those who have lost family members and loved ones. Cooking is an important way for this comfort to gain space and take the place of sadness. By showing the respect and pride that each participant in this project feels for those who left, we emphasize the value of rescuing memories in general, also awakening in those who read a possible memory of someone who has passed away”, comments Mylena Cooper, director of the Vatican.

The Sunday dish, chicken and bird, told by the gastronomy teacher Liduina Irineu, recalls the dedication of her father, Raimundo Tercero, in fetching the chicken for the family and cutting it the way his wife, Ilzanira Tercero, liked it. Doctor Marco Aurélio Musse, on the other hand, used his deceased father’s raw kibbeh recipe to connect his grandchildren with the grandfather they never knew. These are just a few examples of the exciting trajectories reported in the material.

Four of the ten recipes in the e-book also generated videos, available on the Vatican and Bom Gourmet YouTube channels, in which the interviewees talked to chef Guilherme Guzela about their stories and then prepared, in the Bom Gourmet kitchen, the dear recipes taught by those who have departed.

Despite the context of loss, in all the stories it is possible to understand that the dishes described help to keep the people who are gone alive and present in the imagination of those who remain. In some cases, they even became inspiration for personal or professional transformations. Download the e-book and send it to family and friends who may be touched by the stories.