Anyone who walked into Javeriana Cali during SURō 2025 probably followed their nose before they read any sign. Pots were bubbling, grills were working, and people were talking about territory, memory, and recipes at the same time.
The second edition of this event showed how gastronomy in southwestern Colombia is not just about taste. It is also about identity, education, and the links that food creates between communities that share a region.
What SURō is and why it matters for Javeriana Cali
SURō was created by the Faculty of Creation and Habitat and the Gastronomy and Culinary Arts program as an academic and social space. Its goal is to think about food, territories, and people in the southwest.
The initiative looks at regional cuisines as “culinary systems,” where ingredients, techniques, history, and economy are all connected. It asks how those systems can be understood and strengthened from the university.
The 2025 edition reinforced that idea. Students, professors, producers, and invited cooks met on campus to cook, talk, and reflect together. The line between classroom and kitchen became very thin.
For the program, SURō is also a way to show that gastronomy is not only about restaurant menus. It is a way to talk about culture, sustainable development, and respect for local knowledge.
A bridge made of flavors, stories, and generations
The main message of the article is simple, gastronomy can be a bridge. In SURō 2025, that bridge connected older cooks who carry recipes in memory with young students who arrive with notebooks, cameras, and a lot of curiosity.
People from different territories of the southwest shared dishes, stories of migration, and everyday practices around the fogon or the tulpa, the traditional fire circle that brings people together.
Through these encounters, students could see that a plate of food holds more than ingredients. It carries geography, climate, family history, and sometimes conflict and resistance.
Guests and organizers insisted that this shared work is also a way to heal divides between rural and urban spaces, between the Pacific coast and Andean cities such as Cali.
Women and tulpas, two pillars of the SURō narrative
On the SURō site and in the event, women appear as a central pillar. They are described as silent guardians of care, cooking, and territory; the ones who have kept many food traditions alive.
Several activities recognized their role as teachers and leaders, not only as “helpers” in the kitchen. For many students, this changed the way they saw the people behind typical dishes.
The tulpa, a communal fire used in many Indigenous and Afro‑descendant contexts, worked as another symbol. Around it, food is cooked, but stories, songs, and advice are also shared.
In SURō, the tulpa is rethought as a real and symbolic space where knowledge becomes collective and food turns into culture, weaving ties between participants.
Learning by cooking with the southwest
One of the strongest aspects of SURō 2025 was its method, learning by doing, side by side with people from the region. Students did not only read about local products; they cooked with them alongside their bearers.
Producers brought ingredients such as Pacific herbs, native tubers, and traditional preparations. They explained how climate, soil, and social conditions affect each product.
At the same time, the university contributed tools for research, communication, and management. The idea was not to replace traditional knowledge, but to give it more visibility and support.
This kind of work lines up with broader movements in Colombia that see gastronomy as a driver of tourism, local economies, and cultural pride.
Food, identity, and future editions of SURō
The article suggests that SURō is becoming a yearly reference point for people interested in the cuisines of southwestern Colombia, from students and chefs to community cooks and researchers.
Future editions are expected to deepen topics such as food sovereignty, fair payment for producers, and the role of gastronomy in building more inclusive cities and regions.
If the event keeps growing, it could join other regional festivals and strategies that position Colombian cuisine as a living heritage that supports both culture and development.
A university table where the southwest feels at home
In the end, SURō 2025 left a simple but powerful image, a university table where the southwest of Colombia sits down to share, argue, and dream over a meal.
By treating gastronomy as a bridge, not just an industry, Javeriana Cali and its allies showed that cooking can help build identity, open conversations across generations, and remind everyone that big changes often start with something as everyday as a shared plate.