The Yum Cha restaurant in Santiago and the Ruta de los Abastos in the O’Higgins region have been included in the prestigious list that highlights 100 places around the world.
These two experiences reflect the diversity and quality of Chile’s local gastronomic offerings. The message from Imagen de Chile is clear: “Come and eat in this country.”
“Chile is at a crucial moment to exploit the gastronomic tourism we have. Basically, Chile is a pantry, one of the largest pantries of products in the world: we have some of the best wines in the world, the best seafood products, among other products, and this is now being exploited through chefs, projects, and producers,” says Nicolás Tapia, owner and founder of the Yum Cha restaurant, one of the Chilean destinations highlighted by Time magazine in its list of 100 extraordinary places to visit in 2024.
These two Chilean experiences shine in this renowned list that includes hotels, restaurants, and places to visit from all over the world.
The team of Yum Cha, headed by Nicolás Tapia (on the right), its owner and founder. The innovative Yum Cha restaurant opened its doors in 2022 in Santiago, based on the Chinese tradition of sharing food accompanied by tea, but with Chilean ingredients that bring local gastronomic identity.
The 10-course tasting menus from local chef Nicolás Tapia use teas from different parts of the world, including Nantou oolong from Taiwan and Hadong red tea from South Korea, as a guide to pair with local products and seafood from the cold waters of Chile’s Pacific.
The second destination recognized by Time is the Ruta de los Abastos in the O’Higgins region, the first rural gastronomic tourism circuit in Chile, with 10 experiences spanning Santa Cruz, Pichilemu, Paredones, Litueche, Marchigüe, and La Estrella.
Ruta de los Abastos works with small producers (winemakers, beekeepers, and fishermen, among them) between the Andean valleys and the Pacific Ocean to create sustainable gastronomic adventures.
These are two destinations that offer different experiences but speak of Chilean gastronomy and identity from different perspectives.
Ruta de los Abastos seeks to promote rural tourism and the local economy, connecting visitors with local producers and artisans.
“It’s not a triumph for us, it’s a triumph for Chile, for the pantries, for gastronomic tourism to be the banner that says from now on that, besides surfing the wave and skiing in these beautiful ski resorts, and going to the driest desert in the world, eat these territories. Look at what these territories produce, eat it,” says Pamela Villagra, gastronomic journalist and co-director of the Ruta de los Abastos.
The Undersecretary of Tourism, Verónica Pardo, highlighted the importance of the gastronomic experience in Chilean tourism:
There are many chefs, cooks, gastronomists who are not thinking about gastronomic tourism, they are thinking about getting their food out there, and therefore, it’s important that the food experience be part of a tourist route, because I think we need to sell Chile as a whole.
The executive director of the Fundación Imagen de Chile, Rossana Dresdner, participated alongside Verónica Pardo, Undersecretary of Tourism, in the ceremony presenting the two awarded institutions.
“We cannot forget that the eyes of the world in 2024 are looking at what we eat. What we are telling people, the world, is: Come and eat in this country,” says Pamela Villagra.
The executive director of Imagen de Chile, Rossana Dresdner, pointed out:
This is a sign that Chile, in many areas, is at a global level and Chileans need to, together, show more of our great strengths.
