MY STORY

MY STORY

I am a historian committed to rescue, safeguard and promote natural and cultural heritage through responsible tourism. I have worked in the private and public sector focusing on Gastronomical Tourism, Sustainable Development and Cultural heritage. I have been a travel consultant for the past 15 years, exclusive honeymoons and family trips.

THE KITCHEN

The Kitchen is a Sanctuary,a cultural Expression lab.

We connect you with local producers and cooks who will share their knowledge in with you. Cooking Classes and tasting experiences.

We acknowledges gastronomy as a cultural expression linked to the natural and cultural diversity of the world.

We promote those culinary traditions that have ancestral roots and promote slow food. We focus on

Mexican Food because it was the first Cuisine that UNESCO declared as Intangible World Heritage.

Traditional Cuisine is a system of accumulated knowledge, respect and communion with the environment and with the community.

There is a whole universe behind each dish:

Planting and harvesting (Stars and Seasons)

Nutrition knowledge

Artisans who weave Baskets, Table Clothing, Utensils

Festivities and Rituals around crops and food

Community gatherings

Roles

Wise Cooks who safeguard this knowledge.

THE NOMAD

I currently live in the Silicon Valley in California, a mile away fro Netflix, 10 miles away from google, 5 miles away from Apple, 17 miles away from Facebook, 20 miles away from the Pacific Ocean and 50 miles away from Twitter in San Francisco.

Living here is a pleasure, we are surrounded by orchards, parks, lakes and beaches. This biodiversity allows us to have access to many locally produced products, we can eat a morning catch served with veggies from a local orchard, drink a local beer or have a glass of wine from a vineyard across the street.

Because of the high tech companies it is a very diverse population and because of history and migration the mexican community is very big here and that makes it a lot easier for us to live in this area, we find cactus, corn tortillas and chilli almost everywhere.

I move around to get my groceries in stores owned by different communities because every visit is a whole cultural experience. I get coffee in an ethiopian one, veggies and lentils in an indian, ribs in a korean, fruit in a chinese, seafood in a japanese, dates in a middle eastern one.

A nomad runs through my veins and I have enjoyed moving around, although both of my Grandmothers were from Mexico both of my Grandparents were not. My first overseas experience was visiting Cuba twice in a summer camp when I was 9 and 10 years old, the second trip was long flight was when I was 13 I moved with my parents to Nairobi, Kenya where I lived during 3 of my precious teenage years. An important root of who I am is in the root of a Baobab in East Africa.

In august 1989 I went on Safari to Masai Mara for the first time, during the time of the big migration from Serengeti to Masai Mara.

The nomadic cultures dragged my respect and interest I was clear then that I wanted to become an anthropologist expecting I would travel and live for long periods of time with the Samburu and their camels. I did some other very special trips, one of them was an 8 day camping journey from Nairobi to lake Turkana, what I recall the most is the value of silence, simplicity and the sky full of stars.

I was in 10th grade when we went to Lamu on a field trip, it is a small historic Swahili island in the Indian ocean. This amazing journey dragged me into an everlasting passion for travelling and a unique hearted liaison with the swahili world originated on the fusion of the Bantu and the arab cultures.

Another unique moment was when I spent the last day of the 19th Century riding a camel for 8 hours with the bedouins in Israel. I was back in time to celebrate new year's eve in Tel Aviv nightlife.

A few years later I visited the Sahara desert, I was again under the enchanted formula of the camels, the sky full of stars, the music and the silent night sleeping on a carpeted Tuareg tent. But the desert needs its counterpart… a loud city like Fes or Marrakech. Morocco became then my favourite destination, an african country very similar to Mexico and neighbour to my Dear Spain.