Alexa Martillo, a sweet entrepreneur
The new gastronomic trends are looking for professionals who not only know how to prepare a dish, but also contribute to the nutritional, hygiene and food handling aspects.
As a child, she was known as the dessert girl; Her first recipes were tres leches sweet and tiramisu. At the age of 16, she sold cakes to her neighbors, then to a well-known pastry shop in San Marino. Alexa Martillo Saa’s entrepreneurial spirit comes from the example of her mother, an economic chef by vocation.
He studied to be a chef in the kitchen at the Mausi Sebess in Buenos Aires, Argentina; for pastry chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Lima, Peru; and for an international professional chef certified by the World Association of Chefs Societies. In addition, she is a Marketing and Sales Engineer with an MBA.
She is the general director of the Culinary School of the Americas (ECA) and mentor of the Cocina y Emprende project, with the Municipality of Guayaquil, the Guayas Chamber of Tourism and the Government of Guayas.
“Being able to teach and see that people took advantage of that knowledge and turned it into an opportunity to improve their quality of life is what most fulfills me professionally and personally,” says Alexa, who enjoys reading, theater and outdoor recreational activities with your children.
Regarding the evolution of the race in Ecuador, he says that it has become important. “Before it was not seen as a profession, now a chef is not only the person who cooks in a restaurant or business, but also the one who fulfills the role of gastronomic administrator, teacher, culinary critic, nutrition consultant, which allows a more active participation in any field that works”.
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Juan García, gastronomic heritage
You can see the rise of cooking schools in Ecuador, this is due to the demand that is required to operate and achieve the desired service.
The hallacas, fish buns and humitas, with the seasoning and joy of cooking from his aunt Olga, plus the ten sacks of corn that his grandmother Amadita used to grind him and his cousins, are memories that return to the memory of Juan García Guerrero, when asked when he decided to be a chef. “It was when I was 18, watching them cook,” he replies.
At the University of Guayaquil he obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Gastronomy. She says that the most gratifying thing is sharing the knowledge she has acquired over the years with her classmates and cooking students, as well as seeing the smiles of diners when they try something new and made especially for them.
He tells an anecdote about his beginnings: “Some friends invited me to be part of a Chinese cuisine restaurant, where the vacancy for a posillero was available. I said, of course I did, not remembering that it was Mother’s Day. It was crazy, I wanted to run out of the chifa and never come back. Today I smile with tremendous madness”.
Since 2016 he is the executive chef of the Hotel Courtyard by Marriott Guayaquil. “He carries responsibility, honesty, camaraderie, loyalty and a lot of ethics when making a quality recipe,” says Juan, married and father of two children.
Bocachico sweat, a very traditional freshwater fish in the city of Babahoyo, was the first recipe he prepared. But what she likes to cook the most is dried duck on a wood stove and she does it for family gatherings.
Eugenio Patricio, from Peru to Ecuador
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As a teenager, she cooked for her brothers in her native Peru. He liked to create recipes and thus he discovered his love for cooking. He abandoned his Industrial Engineering studies to work in a restaurant and soon after he worked alongside Italian and Peruvian chefs. “I learned to manage a large kitchen with high turnover, which was a great step in my professional career,” recalls Eugenio Patricio Aparicio.
He studied at the Cenfotur Institute of Gastronomy in Lima before moving to Ecuador in 1995, to cook at a place in Guayaquil. After three years there he began his career at Red Crab restaurant, where he has been for 24 years and is currently the executive chef.
As the most rewarding thing about her profession, she mentions: “Seeing clients exceed their expectations with the dishes we prepare, sharing my knowledge with the work team and having the freedom to create new recipes. Meeting people from many parts of the world and sharing moments with my boss and staff”.
Its specialty is sea food (shellfish, fish, crustaceans, bivalves), in the Creole and international style.
“Ecuador is my second home, it is the land that gave me the opportunity to grow professionally and where I have raised my family, both personally and in the workplace,” emphasizes Eugenio, married to an Ecuadorian.
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Xavier Estevez, passionate about cooking
It is a gift that few of us have, it is hard work but very rewarding when you accept everything that it entails. When you have your feet on the ground and you remember that being a cook is what allows you to be a chef
From a very young age, he was attracted to culinary art. His father and his mother encouraged him to learn to cook, but it was at the age of 23 (he is currently 39) when he knew that he wanted to dedicate himself to this profession, during the first day of classes at the School of Chefs. “At that moment I fell in love with cooking, its processes, everything”, recalls Xavier Estévez Fuentes.
He then traveled to Argentina to specialize as a professional chef, baker and pastry chef at the Mariano Moreno Higher Institute of Gastronomy in Buenos Aires. He is currently the executive chef of the Radisson Hotel.
The first recipe he made was beef stir-fry with soy, tomato sauce, and scrambled egg. “This preparation was the one that made me lose my fear of turning on a stove and it is super special for me,” says the man from Guayaquil.
He remembers an anecdote from his beginnings in a hotel in the city, which no longer exists: “I arrived as a dishwasher but, because I was curious and met good cooks, soon after I was helping in the main kitchen. It was hard, but an experience that I would undoubtedly live a thousand more times”.
He emphasizes that before there were many prejudices about being a chef, but now the career is much more accepted in society. “I think it is seen more as such and not as a hobby,” concludes the tennis fan.
Renatto González, from canned food to fast food
There are many young people like me, with a lot of creativity, who have carried the name of Ecuador to the world very high. We must continue fighting for our country to become a benchmark
He had studied different university careers, but he did not conclude them because it was not his thing. He had been working in a public company for eight years, but he did not feel fulfilled either. But what he enjoyed doing empirically (cooking for the family) later became his profession, which he now fully enjoys.
“I decided to study gastronomy at the Culinary Academy of the Pacific and that’s how it all began,” recalls Renatto González San Lucas, 38, who is currently specializing in bakery at La Escuela de los Chefs.
“When I graduated I decided to start a business directly and quit the job I was working on, it was hard but it was worth it”, says the creator of Bendito Chef, a project that was born with the production of canned food on a small and large scale.
“I managed to introduce them in two places and participate in fairs. I started to mix them with sandwiches to taste my sauces. Due to a lack of budget, I was unable to grow the business, but I opened a fast food outlet with a more gourmet style that would set me apart from the rest”, recalls the entrepreneur, who already has three locations in the city.
The hamburger is always accompanied with mayonnaise and tomato sauce, but the Ecuadorian did something different that is now his hallmark. “I created that sauce when I was selling to my coworkers, when I just started a business. It is similar to the huancaína but not the same”, emphasizes Renatto, who is married and has a 9-month-old son. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
