One of the first things I do when I arrive in a new country, city or town is to head over to the nearest farmers' market or grocery store and investigate the local wares. As you'll recall from previous posts, in Buenos Aires, I was initially amazed at the extremely high ratio of cookies to other products in the stores. There were aisles and aisles of packaged cookies. It's a shame I'm not into packaged cookies, or it would have been heaven. When we arrived to Asuncion, Paraguay on Saturday, we headed out to the nearest shop to pick up a few things. I stood in awe at the variety of yogurt available. Further investigation revealed what I suspected - most of the dairy products come from the Mennonite dairy cooperatives in the Chaco Region of Paraguay.
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I had grand visions of visiting the Mennonite colonies while in Paraguay,
but soon learned that it's kind of like flying from Bangkok to New York
City for 5 days and thinking you'll just hop a local bus for a little
day trip to the Grand Canyon. Well, maybe it's not that extreme, but
it is kind of far from where we are. As we are working during the day
in the traditional work week, it's hard to have all the adventures we
would like. So, I'll have to live vicariously by eating as much
Mennonite yogurt as possible and sharing a bit of the rich history I've
uncovered online. (A little side note: The coconut yogurt is giving
the Liberte lemon yogurt from Canada a run for its money.)
Good ol' Wikipedia reveals that the 10,000 residents in the Chaco (a vast desert region of Paraguay) are Mennonites of German and Dutch background. The ancestors of these Mennonites lived in West Prussia until the end of the 18th century, in the Black Sea region of the Ukraine until 1874 and in Manitoba, Canada, until 1926, before settling in Paraguay. Why did they leave Canada, you ask? Who would EVER leave Canada? It was a reaction to the introduction of universal, secular compulsory education in 1917 requiring the use of the English language, which the more conservative Mennonites saw as a threat to the religious basis of their community. A second impetus was the Canadian settlement act, which prevented the form of cooperative farming that was practiced in Russia. In 1919 a delegation was sent to South America to find a new home. It seems the folks in Paraguay were awfully welcoming by offering Mennonite settlers in the Chaco freedom from military service, the right to run their own German language schools, freedom to manage their own affairs without government interference, absolute religious freedom AND and open immigration policy for more Mennonite settlers. Talk about an attractive package! It's the U.S. militia dream.
The Mennonites barely eeked a living off the harsh land (and many of them returned to Canada during the roughest periods, but seem to be returning to Paraguay in numbers again) until the 1980's when a partnership with the World Bank led to conditions favorable for dairy farming - hence the dairy coops making this fantastic coconut yogurt. The most interesting, and perhaps the most important, piece of the story, is the unique relationship the Mennonites have formed over the century with the indigenous Lengua community. When the Mennonites arrived, there were 600 members of this community. Unlike many places, in the last years the population has grown due to improved economic and living conditions. For the social and economic advancement of the indigenous population the Mennonites established a service co-operative, Asociación de Servicios de Cooperación Indígena Mennonita (ASCIM) in 1961. ASCIM has 300 members, of which half are Mennonites and half indigenous. The governing board of the non-profit association consists of 30 indigenous and 32 non-indigenous representatives. The number of indigenous residents is now about 25,000 and growing, numbering more than the Mennonite population.
Fascinating (and also a little heart breaking, as I can't go there). I am so intrigued, and I imagine you are too. I welcome comment from anyone who has explored the Chaco or who has more knowledge of the politics, economy and history of the region. I'm off to eat some more yogurt. Yummy.
Good ol' Wikipedia reveals that the 10,000 residents in the Chaco (a vast desert region of Paraguay) are Mennonites of German and Dutch background. The ancestors of these Mennonites lived in West Prussia until the end of the 18th century, in the Black Sea region of the Ukraine until 1874 and in Manitoba, Canada, until 1926, before settling in Paraguay. Why did they leave Canada, you ask? Who would EVER leave Canada? It was a reaction to the introduction of universal, secular compulsory education in 1917 requiring the use of the English language, which the more conservative Mennonites saw as a threat to the religious basis of their community. A second impetus was the Canadian settlement act, which prevented the form of cooperative farming that was practiced in Russia. In 1919 a delegation was sent to South America to find a new home. It seems the folks in Paraguay were awfully welcoming by offering Mennonite settlers in the Chaco freedom from military service, the right to run their own German language schools, freedom to manage their own affairs without government interference, absolute religious freedom AND and open immigration policy for more Mennonite settlers. Talk about an attractive package! It's the U.S. militia dream.
The Mennonites barely eeked a living off the harsh land (and many of them returned to Canada during the roughest periods, but seem to be returning to Paraguay in numbers again) until the 1980's when a partnership with the World Bank led to conditions favorable for dairy farming - hence the dairy coops making this fantastic coconut yogurt. The most interesting, and perhaps the most important, piece of the story, is the unique relationship the Mennonites have formed over the century with the indigenous Lengua community. When the Mennonites arrived, there were 600 members of this community. Unlike many places, in the last years the population has grown due to improved economic and living conditions. For the social and economic advancement of the indigenous population the Mennonites established a service co-operative, Asociación de Servicios de Cooperación Indígena Mennonita (ASCIM) in 1961. ASCIM has 300 members, of which half are Mennonites and half indigenous. The governing board of the non-profit association consists of 30 indigenous and 32 non-indigenous representatives. The number of indigenous residents is now about 25,000 and growing, numbering more than the Mennonite population.
Fascinating (and also a little heart breaking, as I can't go there). I am so intrigued, and I imagine you are too. I welcome comment from anyone who has explored the Chaco or who has more knowledge of the politics, economy and history of the region. I'm off to eat some more yogurt. Yummy.
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