Blog
From farm-to-fork: the best possible practice for a chef
AmaSer’s chef Mario has been cooking for almost his whole life. After learning from his grandmother and getting a degree in culinary arts, he is now responsible for the dishes on our menu. Here, he can use what is available in the garden to create a gluten free vegan menu. With this, he can show people how a realistic and futureproof perspective on food, from farm-to-fork can be possible.
Mario learned cooking from his grandmother. He grew up in Mexico City with his grandmother always cooking. After school, he was the one helping her in the kitchen. “Immediately after I dropped my backpack, she asked me to go to the market, or chop vegetables. We have a big family that came to visit us every weekend, so my grandmother and I often had to make a lot of food.” She showed him what food to pick and where along with what herbs to harvest that were growing on the hill where they lived.
His life has always been about food. After exploring creative professions like art and architecture, he found himself attracted most to the world of food. “I found out that the best university for culinary art was in my own city: Mexico. I checked it out, I passed the entrance exam and I got in.” Here he learned about business, communication, food science and anthropology of food.
His interest in the anthropology of food made him decide to travel through Mexico and South America. Speaking with elders on his travels, he learned about the history and culture of food: he spoke with them about Mexican ingredients and cooking techniques.
After working in the food tourism industry in Mexico City for about two years, he realised he missed working with food directly from the land. “I felt this craving of touching food from the soil and harvesting my own food again. I wanted to go back to creating recipes and dishes by using what is available on the land surrounding me.”
In order to be able to cook where food was growing on-site, Mario started working in the jungle in Punta Mona. “Here I could grow food myself: I was harvesting the plants, digging the soil and preparing fish I caught myself. I felt reconnected with food again. Then I heard of AmaSer, the garden and its philosophy on ayurvedic food. This made me interested in working there.”
Mario believes that the best possible practice for a chef is when you can get your ingredients from your immediate surroundings to make dishes. “Take spinach for example. That grows in the gardens here at AmaSer. With creativity and different cooking techniques I have an infinite amount of possibilities to work with this spinach.”
With the concept farm-to-fork, he wants to switch people's perspectives on how to eat healthier, more sustainably and more consciously, knowing where the food you eat is growing. “I believe that we are slowly moving towards this direction of farm-to-fork as a collective. I see people becoming more aware of what they eat and where the food is coming from. I like to be part of this transformation by showing what I can do with locally grown food.”
His favorite foods to cook with are pumpkin and jackfruit. “They grow here abundantly and have a lot of health benefits. Moreover, I can use every little part of them and it is always delicious, no matter how we prepare it. The land is generous here, with all the food growing around us. All it takes is attention and time.”
