Sabor Reviewed in Umami Greek Magazine

"I begin with Sabor, in North London. Sabor is a very particular Latin-american restaurant, where each dish comes from another Latin America country. I really like the owner, Esnayder Cuartas from Colombia, who welcomed me in the restaurant as if I was his best friend. Once I had my first Mojito and Caipirinha, I felt like practing my Spanish and ordered a selection of empanadas, from Colombia, the Carribean and Bolivia, followed by a Peruvian Aji de Gallina; a marinated chicken breast fillet, served with sun dried tomatoes, herbs and golden Mayan potatoes; a dish that speaks of Sabor's name."

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Colombian Independence Day - 200 Years Anniversary

Sabor is proud to be collaborating with Vinopolis in the celebration of 200 years of Colombian Independence this year. For this event we have created a new range of cocktails using Colombian fruits, which will be served at a special event at Vinopolis on the evening of 20th July.

What if Latin America Ruled the World?

Some of us at Sabor went to Colombiage for the first time just a couple of years ago; this is a festival of Colombian literature, music, cinema and even gastronomy, which has been held at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith for the last couple of years. During that weekend in 2008, we were captivated by Oscar Guardiola-Rivera's interview with Gerald Martin, who at that time had just published a biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (highly recommended).

Since that time Oscar has become a good friend and regular customer of Sabor, and we were excited when we heard that he had a book of his own coming out, to be titled 'What if Latin America Ruled the World?'. Oscar's earlier books have been aimed at the academic community, but this promises to be a great read for any members of the general public with an interest in the broad sweep of history and geo-politics, especially if they are particularly interested in Latin America.

We don't think we can improve on what his publishers have to say about the book, so we've reproduced their introduction to it below - it's well worth a read.

"For most Europeans and Americans, Latin America is still little more than their underdeveloped sibling, its inhabitants pitching up in Madrid, Paris and London, or struggling across the Rio Grande into the USA. It is a place of exuberant music, mesmerising football, extravagant beauty, fantastic literature, drug-trafficking and guerrilla warfare – in short, exotic, dangerous and exciting.

In this counterintuitive and hugely engaging book, Oscar Guardiola-Rivera sets the record straight about Latin America’s role in world. He shows that, far from fitting its stereotype a region of banana republics and idealistic utopias, the peoples of Latin America have risen up and now stand together. Taking control of their own destinies and resources while distributing rewards, Latin Americans have resisted some of the worst consequences of the unfettered market policies associated with deregulated finance, demand sustained by debt, resource depletion and ‘free trade’ that have wreaked havoc elsewhere. Retelling the story of Latino peoples from their pre-Columbian origins through the Spanish and Portuguese ascendancy and the British commerce and piracy of the Caribbean, to the IMF and ‘the end of history’ until today, this book shows that the official story of globalisation is wrong and misleading.

After having witnessed South American countries fare better than most during the current Great Recession, make their mark in global debates about climate change and assume their role as world leaders, as in the case of Brazil, the rest of the world seems ready to listen. Making its presence felt from Quito to Shanghai, from Brazilia to London and from Buenos Aires to New York, Latin America no longer specialises in losing.

While the world acknowledges the continuing importance of the US in international affairs, few have noticed that with Spanish language and culture in the ascendant the US is quietly but quickly becoming the next Latin American country. In fact, Guardiola-Rivera argues, the next Barack Obama is more than likely to be of Latino origin.

Oscar introduced the book to British audiences during the Hay Literary Festival –the most important of its kind in the United Kingdom, and one of the most reputed literary festivals in Europe - last 31 May. The highly qualified audience attending Hay gave the book a very warm welcome, and the ‘preview’ copies of the book sold out in less than a day. Oscar will be appearing in several venues presenting his book and speaking of its wider implications in the context of the celebrations of the bicentenary of independence in the Americas. On 11 June he will appear at Birkbeck College. On 27 June, Oscar will be at the Trycicle Cinema in London for the ‘Women in Power’ workshop and film exhibition. On 29 June, Oscar will join historian Eduardo Posada-Carbó at the British Library to celebrate the bicentenary of independence in Latin America and the Caribbean, after having talked to Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan at UCL’s Bentham House on the same day. On 14 July Oscar will be at Sabor for a special fundraiser on behalf of Latin American arts festival Colombiage, featuring a selection of readings from his book, and a book signing session. Copies of What If Latin America Ruled the World? will be available for purchase that day.

This is an unmissable opportunity to share what many critics and commentators are already calling ‘an experience’ with Oscar. His appearances in person always involve a fun and deeper experience, as confirmed by the attendants to this years’ Hay Festival and University of East Anglia’s reputed encounter of storytellers from around the world. ‘It’s the man, not just the book. You have to go and see him!’, says Kevin Conroy Scott from London-based literary agency Tibor Jones. On 14 August and 27 August, Oscar will be appearing at the Edinburgh Literary Festival, before travelling to the USA in September for the American launch of his book. In the second part of 2010 Oscar will be at Southbank, and on 16 November in conversation with the author of Gabriel García Márquez’s biography, Gerald Martin, at the Instituto Cervantes in London. Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo, the most reputed and widely read newspaper of Brazil, is preparing a feature on the book including an interview with the author. He is scheduled to appear on radio and television in Britain, Spain, Mexico and the United States during the first leg of his book tour.

Both a hidden history of the modern world from the silver peso (the world’s first truly global currency) to Latin America’s clever use of its grassroots politics, new economics and culture, aimed at developing the region’s rich resources, and an imaginative vision of the world to come rooted in a sure understanding of the past, What If Latin America Ruled the World? is essential and entertaining reading."

A Brief History of Chocolate

Chocolate is one of the most fascinating of all the foods that South Americans Indians gave to the world. The cacao tree originated in the Americas, probably in the basins of the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers, where most species of cacao are still found. Cacao grows in shady tropical forests protected from the strong sun. Wild Cacao must have spread from Amazonia to other regions and probably was domesticated in Central America. When the Spaniards arrived in what is now Mexico they found the Aztecs using cacao beans to make a drink that was so special that it was served to the emperor in gold goblets. It was believed to be an aphrodisiac, which is why the emperor drunk so much of it. This sweetened drink was made with toasted ground cacao beans, hot or cold water, and spices such as achiote (annatto) or ground hot peppers. It was accessible only to the ruling class and nobility because cacao beans were so expensive (they were, in fact, used as currency by both the Aztecs and the Mayas).

The Name of the drink, Xocoatl, may be related to Quetzalcoatl, who it was believed taught the people how to grow and use cacao. The Nahuatl word for the cacao tree is cuauhcacahuatl. Our word for the processed cacao is chocolate derived from the Aztec xocoatl, which probably meant 'bitter drink'.

At the begining of the conquest the Spaniards found xocoatl unpalatable. In addition to the fact that it combined cacao with odd spices (and no sugar), it was prepared by beating it to a foamy consistency. By 1591, some Guatemalan women had created tablets that could be dissolved in hot water and sweetened sugar to make a chocolate drink. Only then did the Spaniards take a serious interest in chocolate, and in 1631 they brought some cacao beans to Spain. There they began making elaborate mixtures of cacao beans, sugar, spices, almonds, and hazelnuts, all ground together to make a paste that was eventually exported to others countries in Europe. Even so, it was not until 1928 that C. J. Van Houten developed a process for making cocoa powder for drinks and cacao butter for solid chocolate.

When this sweeten European creation returned to the land of cacao's birth a few years later , it quckly became a drink of the Andes countries.

Hay Festival in Cartagena

We are delighted to share this article about the Hay Festival in Cartagena, written by Kevin Conroy Scott, a literary agent at Tibor Jones & Associates that also promotes and represents Latin American writers such as Juan Gabriel Vasquez and Oscar Guardiola Rivera in the UK . Kevin is also on the board of the Colombiage Arts Festvial. This article was published by the NewStatesman on 21 May 2010

Hay while the sun shines

Kevin Conroy Scott

Published 21 May 2010

Kevin Conroy Scott reports from a Latin outpost of a British literary festival

Ian McEwan is milling around the beautiful

courtyard of the Santa Clara Hotel in Cartagena, Colombia. "The temperature here is wonderful," he says. "This must be the temperature of paradise." The British novelist is in town for the Hay Festival Cartagena, one of six international offshoots of the annual literary event in Hay on Wye. But what exactly is a festival like this doing in a place like Colombia?

Despite its many problems and its strict class system, Colombia is going through something of a renaissance. The country's president, Álvaro Uribe, has been in power since 2002 and has presided over a period of relative calm after 30 years of violence in which drug cartels funded paramilitaries in the jungle, who in turn protected the cartels' business interests (almost 80 per cent of the world's cocaine comes from Colombia). Uribe's solution was aggressively to tackle the narcotics trade in the jungle while providing more security in major cities.

It has been a controversial strategy, drawing criticism from human rights groups. Senior figures in the Uribe administration have themselves been linked to drug trafficking and right-wing death squads. But eight years on, Colombia is arguably a safer place. Or at least it feels that way.

In Cartagena, the "Venice of the Caribbean", time stands still as horse-drawn carriages pass down lantern-lit streets and the voices of street vendors float on the tropical breezes. I asked Peter Florence, Hay's founder, how he felt about the festival coming to Cartagena. "For most countries, security is taken for granted. But security is new for Colombia. And that security feels like an adventure."

Among the authors attracted to Hay Cartagena is Mario Vargas Llosa. His talk was dominated by the buzz phrase of the festival, "perpetual presidents". Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Colombia's feared neighbour, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, were mentioned as culprits. "Perpetual presidents have left their countries in disaster," Llosa said through a translator. "As a Peruvian I have a lot of experience with this." This was greeted with raucous laughter and applause. Later I met a business teacher from Cartagena, and asked her about the audience's reaction. "Uribe is trying to change the constitution to remain in power for a third term in the same way. But most Colombians don't want to change because we think things are good now."

In Cartagena there is a sense that there are now two Colombias. At one of the many lavish parties hosted by Bogotanos with second homes on the coast, a live salsa band played while empanadas and aguardiente were served by the pool. When I returned to my hotel in Getsemani, the working-class quarter just outside the old town, I met a French economics professor who had retired to Cartagena. He told me that "64 per cent of Colombia is owned by 0.04 per cent of the people. That's where all the problems stem from."

It is often said that periods of great instability produce great art. If this is true, I asked Juan Gabriel Vásquez, a Colombian author whom many tip as the heir apparent to Gabriel García Márquez, is Colombia going through a golden age during this time of relative quiet? "I don't think conflict leads invariably to great art," he said. "If it did, Colombia would have produced nothing but masterpieces since 1810."

But Colombia is full of masterpieces. And people's attitudes towards culture are changing as the country begins to export more of it. The pop singers Shakira and Juanes have both sold millions of albums in the US and Europe. But what is more surprising is the international success of the telenovela, the Colombian soap opera. On my way back to London, I stopped in Bogotá and met the king of the format, Fernando Gaitán, the screenwriter/producer who created the global hit Ugly Betty. "Colombia is well known by everyone for its violence. So I thought it was very interesting to counteract that image," he said, surrounded by his awards in his penthouse office. "Colombia is a country that consumes its own culture. This is very rare. My work focuses on everyday lives, the matters that are universal, like love stories. It's the universal stories that travel abroad, not the stories of violence."

So does Hay Cartagena, with all its gravitas and prestige, need to reflect the more complicated texture of Colombian culture? The

London-based Colombian academic Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, author of the forthcoming book What If Latin America Ruled the World?, just shrugged. "Given that there are so few scenarios for rational discussion in my country, that Hay Cartagena exists is an unqualified good for Colombia." And there's new hope for Colombians who think their country is stagnant. In March, the constitutional court rejected Uribe's attempt to change the constitution to get a third presidential term. And now Colombia is in the grip of election fever. The former mayor of Bogotá, Antanas Mockus, is gathering momentum as the candidate of choice for the left-leaning student population looking to challenge the long conservative rule. They go to the polls later this month, so Colombia won't have a perpetual president any time soon.

Kevin Conroy Scott is a literary agent at Tibor Jones & Associates and on the board of the Colombiage arts festival

Empanadas Paisas

This is one of our Collaboration with Perfiles Magazine, A Latin American London Base Magazine.

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ChocQuibTown at Jazz Cafe

As we are music lovers we are delighted to see the mighty Afro-Colombian group Choc Quib Town make a rare UK appearance. They have won critical acclaim for their enticing fusion of hip-hop, dub, electronica and rhythms from Colombia's Pacific coast, and they will be appearing at the Jazz Café on Monday 24th of May - we have tickets for sale at Sabor.

Their innovative sond fuses funk, North American hip-hop, jamaican ragga, and elements of electronic music in order to produce elaborate beats. They also incorporate traditional rhythms from Colombia's Pacific coast such as bunde, currulao, bambazu, and aguabajo as well as other Latin American and caribbean rhythms such as salsa songo and guajira. Choc Quib Town shows that there's much more to discover about is more to discover about Colombian Music.
They also have a new album out called Oro, which led to them being nominated for best new artist at the Latin Grammy's last year. Billboard.com said that "what makes "Oro" (which contains music from the band's first two Colombian releases) so interesting is that every track finds a new way to interpret the traditional sounds of the country's Pacific coast". It was also very enthusiastically reviewed (four stars!) by the Daily Telegraph last week - they described it as "a sound that feels at once timeless and euphorically current".