Bernardo Roca Rey, journalist and great promoter of Peruvian gastronomy, died at the age of 77

This Monday morning, Bernardo Roca Rey, promoter of the Peruvian Gastronomy Association, creator of Somos magazine, founder of Canal N and between other functions, died at the age of 77. In an interview with Peru 21, he told a few years ago that he studied journalism with his grandfather, Luis Miró Quesada, the then director of the newspaper El Comercio and lived with him. When he was about 13 years old, he accompanied him to do his editorial.

“At the age of 16 I was already writing in the newspaper and, of course, developing photographs, editing. Then I thought why I would study journalism, if I already knew. At home there was no talk of science, so I decided to study chemistry and biology. All the projects I have done are based on a scientific basis.”

He was prominent in his career in the press. He was Director of Publications and Multimedios of the newspaper El Comercio, he played a key role in promoting reading with books that were easily accessible to the public, hardcover and affordable, which for years were filling the libraries of Peruvian homes.

Other newspapers he founded or participated in the creation were “Somos”, “Trome”, “Peru21″ or the portal Espacio 360 and Canal N.

After that he dedicated himself to carrying out personal projects, in which case it was the promotion of Peruvian gastronomy and in 2010 he was appointed as the first deputy minister of cultural heritage and cultural industries, of the newly created Ministry of Culture.

“Thirty years ago, a group of lovers of good food wondered what it took to make gastronomy as rich as ours part of the culture and national identity.” With these words, included in the presentation of the book “Gastón Acurio. 500 years of fusion” (2008), Bernardo Roca Rey Miró Quesada recalled the path that thousands of people next to him have traveled since the 1980s.

Around that time, he presented a file from the Ministry of Culture to apply for Peruvian cuisine as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and launched an initiative to recover and value one million hectares of Andean terraces to be used for local crops.

It was part of Mistura since its first edition, always emphasizing the importance of thinking about sustainable Peruvian cuisine.

“Come to Mistura to explore. The issue of queues has not been solved by Disney World with all the money in the world. Mistura is not a fair to make money”, he invited in the interview with Peru 21.

He also launched the restaurant Pantagruel and criticized and criticized food from his column El Comensal, but he also added important achievements in the field of publications. Hand in hand with Teresa Ocampo, a friend of sharing culinary secrets but also bookish initiatives, she published “Peruvian Cuisine. Traditional and practical recipes” (1996).

Roca Rey completed her studies at the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the University of Seville. After graduating he worked in molecular genetics and even taught courses in Explosive Chemistry and Fish Genetics.

This is how it is because of his long and hard work in journalism and gastronomic that, since 2016, Roca Rey held the position of president of the Peruvian Press Council.

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