Acknowledgments
Best community-run food kitchen in Lima
Celina Canturín, full of heart
Like so many other people, Celina Canturín Ramírez found her life turned upside down by the pandemic. Practically overnight, dozens of families were left vulnerable, forced to reconsider their future and try out different survival strategies, being among the most important the olla común, or community-run food kitchen.
Canturín’s organization is run by a group of mothers, each of whom contributed whatever she was able, a little money, a lot of elbow grease, or ingredients… Everything was welcome. At the start, everything was touch-and-go. They cooked over an open fire in small space, and there were never enough cooking utensils. At one point, they were serving over eighty people: from children and adults to senior citizens and “social cases,” as Canturín calls the people who come for free lunch each day, or even have it delivered to their homes. Now, each set menu costs 4 soles, and the money is entirely reinvested into the program.
The first major change, according to Canturín—who leads Olla Común Pedregal N.° 2 in Manchay—came when a group from the cement company UNACEM got in touch with them. All that hard work would finally start to bear fruit. They began with talks and training on financial management and saving money, business endeavors, and hygiene and nutritional information.
Thanks to their motivation and drive, they now have an upgraded stove, an oven, cooking utensils, a little garden where they grow basic ingredients and a number of herbs, and donated products to prepare hearty set menus. They have also learned to make cakes, bread, and cachangas that they sell at fairs and events sponsored by the municipality.
The improvements to the kitchen have also included increased visibility, encouraging more people to eat lunch there, with the consequent additional revenue. They prepare around sixty meal rations daily, seven days a week. On Saturday, they also serve breakfast.
As president of the food kitchen, Celina Canturín attends meetings, travels from Manchay to Lima, handles donations, organizes work shifts, participates in municipal assemblies, and cooks. She confesses that ever since she was a young girl living in her native province of Chanchamayo, she wanted to help others, a gift that she has succeeded in cultivating and transmitting to her five children and all those around her.
