Mini Mal

The Colombian Chefs Revitalizing the Country's Food Scene | Condé Nast Traveler

"Housed in a mid-20th-century red-brick mansion in Chapinero Alto, this restaurant is dedicated to social change by using Indigenous rites and Colombia’s extraordinary flora and fauna, drawing on a country with a thousand varieties of fruit and more than 300 ecosystems. It grew out of Eduardo Martínez’s research into alternative uses of plants and animals and explicitly acknowledges the rights and knowledge of Afro-Colombian communities on the Pacific coast and Indigenous peoples, who long lacked land rights despite being guardians of biodiversity and Indigenous produce. The restaurant serves ingredients that initially perplexed Bogotanos, from mollusks harvested in Pacific mangroves to umami-packed tucupí, a fermented cassava product made by women in the Amazon, which has now become a new luxury in place of pasta. Mini-Mal functions as a platform to empower small suppliers economically, give them customers beyond coca cultivation, and help them take pride in their identities." - Stephanie Rafanelli