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Local Food in Puerto Rico Finds Energy in Recovery
Two hurricanes slowed a budding effort to reclaim the island’s agricultural and culinary independence. But its chefs, farmers and entrepreneurs are rebuilding.
SAN JUAN, P. R. — Before Hurricanes Irma and Maria plowed through Puerto Rico in late 2017, Natalia Quiles Deyá was a full-time lawyer with a new hobby: growing papayas and root vegetables on land she rented in the island’s green, fertile interior.
But once the storms passed and the extraordinary level of devastation became clear, Ms. Quiles Deyá, 32, decided to quit the law and participate in regrowing the island — from the ground up.
“My father used to say that agriculture is the heart of every country,” she said. “I saw that the island needed something big to make a difference.”
A passionate local-food movement in Puerto Rico — cooking from island traditions, eating native ingredients and supporting producers like bakers, ice-cream makers and butchers — has been growing for more than a decade. Many people say the movement was hitting its stride just as Irma and Maria arrived — and indiscriminately wiped restaurants and greenhouses, food trucks and fish farms off the map.
There are still produce shortages and power failures. Many farmers, chefs and other producers have not returned. And much of the lush, arable soil remains underused. But Ms. Quiles Deyá and others have rebounded with an even stronger commitment to self-reliance, local food and pride in Puerto Rico itself.
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