Viewers remember her as one of the participants in the reality show kitchen Master Chef Ecuadorof Teleamazonas. Followers of beauty pageants have followed her since she was vice queen of Guayaquil in 2013 and when she later became queen of Guayas 2016. However, although Rachel Ochoa has been linked in different ways to public exposure, this young business management engineer confesses —always— a passionate cook.
As happens in some success stories, Raquel was initially hesitant to follow her wishes. She first wanted to please her parents by following a more “profitable” or suitable career for them. “I have had several facets. I was a college girl who tried to do her best to keep a scholarship. Then, keep my jobs in the public service: I have been in the Municipality of Guayaquil, Prefecture of Guayas, Superintendency, Ministry of Labor. And I saw myself within the public sector climbing, growing, because I started from a very young age, at 18, when I was an accounting analyst”, she mentions.
love for the kitchen
This close relationship was born when he was 9 years old, when his mother had an accident and wanted to help at home so that he could rest. “She didn’t ask me for help; She told an aunt to go to the house, but I told her to give me the opportunity, because, although she was 9 years old, I could go into the kitchen and prepare something for her. At that time, I would buy Biachi’s magazines or those that had recipes and write them down in a notebook. That was my first experience alone, preparing something for my family. And when I cooked for her, she was delighted. I made him a cordon bleu of chicken; she was surprised. All the free time that she had, she used to cook, ”says Raquel about her first gastronomic adventures.
The demonstration along this path, which now materializes with the opening of her own cafeteria, which she has called Lobo de Bosque, was also shown at school, when she brought food to sell to her classmates. “I used to say that I trafficked hamburgers, because I got up early to prepare them. And I would go from class to class and sell them cheeseburgers. And, instead of carrying the notebooks in the suitcase, he put the hamburgers, and they already knew that one day a week he sold them”, says Raquel.
At university he became interested in entrepreneurship. So she sold cupcakes. “Between studying my career, being a viceroy of Guayaquil, between working, I liked to decorate parties, make snacks. If someone had a birthday, I told them to help, because I was passionate about this. When I left the country, I did a master’s degree in Business Administration, but it was like that to tell my parents that I have met them at a business level, and to be able to tell them (after that) the time has come to fulfill what truly passionate,” he says.
Fulfilling that dream of her life had her husband, Daniel Peñaranda, as an accomplice. “He has been a fundamental pillar. When I was there in Madrid (he was the consul of Ecuador in Murcia) I studied pastry at the Telva cooking school, where they give super-educational and practical workshops (…). When we returned to the country a year ago, I went back to work in the public sector, in the Sanitary Regulation Agency; I stayed three months, but I felt that it was not what I wanted. I worked to feel active and contribute to my house”, she says.
“At that time I saw MasterChef from Spain. My husband helped me all day to record with my mom for the casting. I made some guatita croquettes, like the Spanish ones that make serrano ham. I made the video, they called me, and I was aware that if they called me, I would have to quit my job. When I called my dad and told him I had news for him, he thought she was pregnant. I told them that this was the opportunity to live my dream”, says Raquel.
The accident of her tibia and fibula during the competition momentarily demotivated her, because she had to take a two-month break to recover. “Immediately, when I was able to walk, I went to do brunch in February to Manta, at the Rocío de González ranch. There we worked with María Laura, with whom I made a nice friendship on the show. She and I with crutches cooked a menu of brunch every weekend, three times”, he details. From this first culinary activity they went on to prepare dinners at home, until the time came to open their own business.
forest wolf
The cafeteria, the project, was conceived in Madrid. Raquel took the opportunity to make videos of Ecuadorians in the town to share them on the platform of the country’s consulate as part of a campaign in the midst of the pandemic.
“My beginnings are on the website, there are the desserts that I used to sell there, like sweet plantain cake with cheese, little blacks. I launched myself as Lobo de Bosque, artisanal desserts free of industrialized processes. And there, in Madrid, to sell desserts you must have a workshop certificate; I did this additional degree, which is like a food handling course. And then Verónica Manrique, owner of Pandino, she opens the doors of her kitchen for me to make my desserts, and there I started selling to Ecuadorian restaurants for Spaniards. La Fontana Gastro: they welcomed me and were the first to buy my desserts”, she expresses.
On your dessert menu, brunch Y lunch there are different desserts, such as Basque cheesecake, Carrot Cake, brownies, Ripe with Cheese, Blueberries and Lemon, Muffins; traditional dishes with green (green square trilogy, guacamole, pico de gallo and oxtail), broken bolons, Turkish eggs, keto hens, Pizza of hood, bruschettas from the sea, green tigrillo with balls of sweet plantain, mixed tabbouleh-style quinoa, forest salad. In total you have about fifteen recipes available.
The business is located in the La Torre shopping center, local 5, on the road to Samborondón. The opening hours are from 08:00 to 20:00 (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday), from 08:00 to 14:00 (Tuesday) and from 08:00 to 14:30 (Sunday). (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.
