PAN AMERICAN CELEBRATION: MILCO-SHAPED BREAD MADE IN CHICLAYO

He is a man of few words but with so much talent. Miguel Miñope Farro held his latest creation with both hands: sweet bread in the shape of Milco, the lovable Pan American and Parapan American 2019 mascot, while recounting its creation process. He would not give away his recipe, but he did reveal that it took him 10 hours to shape and bake his beautiful masterpiece.

“It takes a lot of patience to make it. Just one mistake and everything's ruined,” he said seriously. Immediately, his face changed. Miguel, who only wanted to show his work, found out that he could go onto the Pan American Games stage at Chiclayo Main Square. The unexpected was about to happen. Miguel smiled for a moment; apparently, he had become aware of what was happening. He realized he would become part of Chiclayo and Peruvian history.

Miguel, aged 53, has devoted 30 years of his life to bakery. He inherited this art from his parents, helping to feed dozens of people from Chiclayo who buy his bread at his “Miñope” bakery, located at the intersection of Jirón Sucre and Diego Ferré in Monsefú. His children did not follow this family tradition as he would have wished, but they did not go on a totally different path, His four children have studied Gastronomy at a professional level, so Miguel feels as proud of them as his Monsefú hometown is proud of him.

While it is true that it is not the first time he has made sweet bread in special shapes, now it was different because it was for such a major event as the Pan American Games. Although Miguel did not carry the Torch, the experience left him with a spiritual flame in his heart and memory, which he will never put out. “I feel so honored and proud of being part of this. We are lucky – these things don’t happen every day,” he told us before he went to the stage and gave away his masterpiece to the Torch Relay organizers, who saw this present as a token of all the public affection shown daily throughout the Torch route.