Diego Velasquez
Is a young chef, ori- ginally from Peru, with a Colombian father and a Peruvian mother. While many chefs praise the delicious dishes their mothers cooked, this wasn’t the case for Diego Velásquez. His mother was a modern woman, a hardworking individual responsible for supporting the household and raising him and his siblings.
Our chef considers himself a supers- tar and shares that his childhood was not easy, with numerous problems at home and school while seeking his in- ner voice. After finishing high school, his dream was to study film direction, but circumstances didn’t allow it. Fee- ling lost and facing strong depression, he recalled the joy he experienced whi- le working in restaurants as a teenager, so he decided to study culinary arts.
The journey wasn’t smooth as financial di- fficulties arose, and he had to study and work long 16-hour days, often tempted to give up. Nevertheless, the kitchen taught him discipline, commitment, and self-reali- zation, despite the old-school atmosphere of yelling and violence, as he describes it. It was tough, he remarks, but what motivated him every morning was the determination not to let others define who he was or what he could become.
After much effort and dedication, he ma- naged to build a reputation in the culinary world. He worked in various restaurants, including Vivaldino, a former Peruvian and international cuisine restaurant, where he learned the essence of discipline. Among others, he also worked at Astrid y Gastón and later joined the Aramburo Corporation in Peru, which owned restaurants like Lima 27, Cala, and Popular.
One day, he was offered the opportunity to lead a restaurant in Frankfurt, Germany, called LA CEVI, where he was in charge of the kitchen. He later traveled to Berlin, where he worked at Nauta as the head chef, and subsequently at other restaurants such as Oh Panamá, a contemporary German cuisine establishment.
Memory
