Uepa's Gastronomic Fair celebrates Amazonian food culture in Santarém

From September 24 to 26, Santarém will host the I Gastronomic Fair – Gastronomic Banzeiro: Colors and Flavors of Tapajós, organized by the Gastronomy course of the State University of Pará (Uepa), offered through the Forma Pará Program. The event, which will take place at the Central Auditorium of Uepa, promises to bring together flavors, knowledge, and techniques in three days of programming open to the community, with a certification of 30 hours. Interested individuals can register through the event website.

The Fair was conceived as a space to value the food identity of the Amazon and also as a showcase for the learning of students. According to Professor Vanessa Alencar, the festival is an example of how the university can engage directly with the population: “in addition to promoting the appreciation of our gastronomic culture, the event is an opportunity to put into practice the knowledge acquired in the classroom and offer unique experiences to the community,” explains the professor.

According to Uepa, the program was designed to unite different formats of learning and experience. The audience will be able to attend lectures and conferences, such as the one that opens the event with chef Ricardo Branches, participate in workshops that explore everything from mixology to the preparation of Amazonian dishes, in addition to enjoying booths with tastings.

The closing of the event will feature a fair of local entrepreneurs and cultural presentations, highlighting the role of gastronomy as an expression of identity and regional development.

For students, the Fair represents not only an academic milestone but also a personal one. Milene Ferreira Peixoto Costa, a graduating student, found in the Gastronomy course a path that united vocation, affection, and research.

As a mother of an autistic child, Milene shares that his food selectivity motivated her to be creative in the kitchen, discovering that cooking is also an act of love. This experience, combined with research opportunities at Uepa, opened doors for her to enter the master's program in Anthropology and Archaeology at the Federal University of Western Pará (Ufopa), where she now studies food. For her, the Fair is the crowning of this journey: a moment to show the community how technique, tradition, and memory can come together on a plate.

The Forma Pará Program, responsible for enabling the course in Santarém, is an initiative of the State Secretariat for Science, Technology, Higher Education, Professional and Technological Education (Sectet), in partnership with public educational institutions. The goal of Forma Pará is to expand and decentralize the offering of higher education courses in different municipalities in Pará, ensuring access to training that was previously concentrated in the capitals.

According to Sectet head Victor Dias, the Fair expresses precisely this purpose. “It will be a moment to celebrate the talent of our Forma Pará students and reaffirm the program's commitment to decentralizing higher education and valuing Amazonian food culture. With dishes that unite technique, research, and cultural identity, students demonstrate how education transforms lives and contributes to a more sustainable future for Pará,” he emphasizes.

Service
I Gastronomic Fair – Gastronomic Banzeiro: Colors and Flavors of Tapajós
Location: Central Auditorium of Uepa, Av. Plácido de Castro, 1399 – Santarém
Date: September 24 to 26, 2025
Time: 6 PM to 10 PM
Certification: 30 hours