3-Minute Interview: Eric Wolfinger

3-Minute Interview: Eric Wolfinger

San Francisco Examiner
Filed under: SAN FRANCISCO , Katie Worth , 3-minute interview

Photobucket
(Courtesy photo)
Eric Wolfinger gained entry to a village of the reclusive Arhuaco
Indians while traveling to Colombia's Sierra Nevada.

Feb 16, 2008 6:00 AM (1 hr 32 mins ago) by Katie Worth, The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - The baker temporarily left his job at the Mission district’s Tartine Bakery and traveled to Colombia’s Sierra Nevada, where he managed to gain entry to a village of the reclusive Arhuaco Indians. Photos from the trip are on display at Tartine Bakery through Sunday and can be found on his blog, www.openkitchenblog.com.

What drew you to Colombia’s Sierra Nevada? I knew there was a pretty reclusive group of people in the mountains who had survived for generations pretty much without any contact with the outside world. I was told a trip there would be impossible, first because the people there prohibit any outside visitors. And second, those mountains are a stronghold of the guerrilla group FARC, so I could have been kidnapped.

So how did you get in? I got there the way you get anywhere prohibited — through an insider. I met an Arhuaco merchant at a market and was peppering her with questions about the Arhuacos. She told me, “Our favorite thing in the world is to have a pot of coffee and share some bread.‿ I asked her how they made their bread. She said, “We don’t know how to make bread. The little money we get during the coffee harvest, we buy the basics. And whatever’s left over, we buy some bread with.‿ I told her I could teach her family how to make bread. She was intrigued. A couple of phone calls later, I was on a bus.

Why do the show at Tartine? The only reason I was granted access to this sort of hidden corner of the world was because I could offer my skill as a bread baker, which I learned at Tartine. So doing the show here about my time in the mountains there came full circle.

By sloopskipper on Feb 16, 2008, 04:39 in Friendly Talkzone.

bufalo says on Feb 17, 2008, 04:28:

"I knew there was a pretty reclusive group of people in the mountains who had survived for generations pretty much without any contact with the outside world. "

So the idiot decides to make contact. Nice head moe, screw them all up with the outside world's influence. Oh, and then tell the whole freaking world about it so that others come. Great idea.

What an asshole.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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greg says on Feb 17, 2008, 11:58:

Seems to me although they are reclusive , they have plenty of contact with the outside world. Doubt this guys visit had any negative impact

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bufalo says on Feb 17, 2008, 18:40:

Probably not as I've seen a lot of them myself years ago in Santa Marta. But it's typical of outside idiots coming here to try to "help" people. If I hear of a secluded culture,the last thing I'd do is pop on by and possible screw it up.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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slguy says on Feb 17, 2008, 19:03:

yea. it's pretty plain the they may never recover from having learned how to bake bread, instead of hoping they have a little money left over from the coffee harvest to buy it with (while they are busy being soiled by their exposure to society).

Before you throw me out, make sure I pay my bar tab

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b bruce says on Feb 17, 2008, 23:10:

Calm down folks! This cat pulled it off. He has gone where no man (gringo) has gone before. You talk as if he has passed on some outside germ that will wipe out their primative culture. I found the article very interesting! Content this web site lacks. He did it right. He spoke to the people and was invited in as a friend. He didn't skydive in with video camera and a million dollar sponsor. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is Colombia's unknown treasure. Now we know a bit more about it. My hats off to the cook, great story dude!

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bufalo says on Feb 18, 2008, 11:05:

It is a start, that's my point. Everything has its start. There are lots of places in colombia that were small and untouched. Take a dope from the outside to go and get a story published on the place and everyone else shows up, then the condos come.... Not saying this is the case, but there is a start somewhere. There's plenty of hungry people in the world that this dork could have shown how to bake bread. He didn't have to find a culture that (supposedly) has no contact with the outside world.

And think about it, he could've brought germs as well, how most of hte natives in the "New World" were taken out - noooooo couldn't happen again.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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slguy says on Feb 18, 2008, 11:20:

I'm guessing that if they sold coffee, and bought bread that they didn't know how to make themselves, he wasn't their first exposure to the "outside" world - but I respect your point.

Before you throw me out, make sure I pay my bar tab

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Mr. Hollywood says on Feb 18, 2008, 11:29:

I think the "without any contact with the outside world" thing is total BS. In the deep Amazon or Orinoco, yes, but not in the SIerra Nevada de Santa Marta. He's just playing up that angle to get some press.

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bufalo says on Feb 18, 2008, 16:19:

Definitely. Plenty of people I know have been all over the Sierra. Just gets me when people see a beautiful culture or whatever and the FIRST thing on their minds is "How do I make this better?"

Easy - stay the hell away.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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august says on Feb 18, 2008, 18:45:

Dude, these are some pretty strong opinions posted here. I'm not sure this was exactly a Colombus style infect and enslave type of mission guys. Reclusive they may have been, but untainted noble savages they are not, these Arhuacos. It says right in the article that the guy met them at a market - probably in effing Santa Marta, they don't live under a rock anymore - just go to Taganga. This is so typical of Poorbuthappy style - jump on the newcomer b/c he found out about Colombia after you. Get over it, man. He gave them sourdough, not smallpox.

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bufalo says on Feb 18, 2008, 20:07:

Not really jump on the newcomer. The poster (supposedly) isn't the person in question. Even if it was a newbie, doesn't make him or her an idiot.

Been to Taganga, miss it. Thing that gets me is I see too many tourists (mostly from the US) who show up and say, "What a paradise", followed by a "You know what this place needs?"

Well if it's such a paradise, leave it alone. Now I know the Aruahcos have had plenty of contact, but according to the aritcle, they didn't. Read the above, this guy left San Fransico and went directly there. He looked for an entry. It's not like he was living here and made friends, he purposely did it.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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Monpirri says on Feb 18, 2008, 20:22:

Bufalo, Aruahcos Indians are by now well know because I believe the export their coffe to different parts of the world.
http://www.fairsharellc.com/
http://www.latinorganics.com/v2/news.html

Annette Taddeo for US Congress 2008

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