It has been 24 years since October 11 is the International Dulce de Leche Day: it was in 1998 that the Argentine Center for the Promotion of Dulce de Leche and Allied Products (Capidya) established the event to promote its production and consumption and position it throughout the world. as a flagship product.
Then, in 2002, the National Ministry of Culture promoted the program “Argentine Food and Gastronomic Cultural Heritage” (Resolution SCN 1327/02), which sought to recognize dulce de leche as Food and Gastronomic Cultural Heritage of Argentina. This title is obtained by the “culinary distinctions” that “constitute a heritage to be identified, revalued and promoted to the world, in cultural terms but also in terms of work, economy, associated artisanal and industrial processes, recovery and protection of species and natural products agents of biodiversity, and as a tourist resource”.
And although this date was established by our country, this traditional dessert (or candy, or as each one likes to call it) has a widely discussed origin among neighboring nations. There are legends that place its birth in the nobility and important military figures at the time of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, or that it was imported by slaves brought from Africa, or even that the Frenchman Napoleon Bonaparte brought it.
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Another version assures that it was born centuries ago in India and Indonesia and that when the Spanish conquerors seized the Poniente and San Lázaro Islands and renamed them the Philippines, they discovered it and took it to America, where it spread throughout the continent. .
Dulce de leche is called “manjar” in Chili“blancmange” in Peru“sweet cajeta” in Mexico“urrao cheese” in bolivia“mud” in Cuba“bienmesabe” in Panama“arequipe” in Colombia, Venezuela and Guatemala.
And with Uruguay there were even almost diplomatic problems: in 2003 they tried to get the World Trade Organization to declare the dulce de leche, the asado and the empanadas cultural heritage of Argentina, something that did not sit well with the Uruguayan brothers who threatened to include the legend ” Uruguayan product such as La Cumparsita” on the label of products made in that country. And they remembered that Cayetano Silva, author of the Saint Lawrence March He was born in Maldonado. In the end, the solution was to declare this delight “Cultural Heritage of the Río de la Plata” and it was prevented from happening to adults.
Regardless of its origin, its pastry or classic versions, or how it is combined with different desserts, the truth is that dulce de leche is one of the richest creations. Go well with almost all kinds of food and even comes from vegan origin. How do you like dulce de leche?