When I terrified in Gaza to evaluate the needs after the bombings. When I went to Ukraine with my team, hospitals, destroyed roads. Each crisis pushes you out of comfort and towards humanity.
What are the best kitchen books you have read?
On food and Cookingby Harold McGee, where science joins magic. On the modern side, Vacuum kitchenby John Rock and Savior Brugués, is a fundational text. Contemporary riceof Quique Dacosta, is a revolutionary approach to rice dishes, which demonstrates why Spanish chefs have been the most technical in the world in the last 30 years. Anything of Ferran Adrià; His work at the Bulli redefined modern gastronomy. On the traditional side, The complete kitchenof the Marquise of Parabere, offers an extensive tour of the Spanish culinary heritage.
What book has impacted you the most?
The anger grapesby John Steinbeck, made me understand hunger, dignity, migration and injustice of systems that generate suffering. He turned on a fire that still burns.
What is the most interesting thing you have recently learned from a book?
That in some parts of the world, the seeds are inherited as family relics. The grandmother’s pepper seed becomes the hope of a granddaughter. The food is memory. The food is resistance. A book that reminded me of is Traditional Ukrainian Cookeryby Savella Stechishin. A recipe treasure, yes, but also of survival, migration and cultural identity preserved through generations. More than a kitchen book, it is a monument. And it shows how food and dishes are a powerful tool to never forget.
If you could ask the president of the United States to read a book, what would it be?
The Undocumented Americansby Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, to know who really keeps the United States fed, dress and standing. EITHER The omnivorous dilemmaby Michael Pollan, to understand how food policy is national policy.
