• Hemeroteca.Read all the interviews against the EL MUNDO
  • María Marte: From scrubbing floors to chef with two stars ... and he leaves it to help women without resources

Chef. (1976, Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic). After being head of a restaurant in Madrid with two Michelin stars, in 2018 he returned to his country. He has just recreated in his own way The Last Supper of Christ : the result, today Saturday at 10.50 pm on the Canal Historia.

What is your version of The Most Famous Last Supper in history like? It has been a wonderful experience. I have researched, I have made discoveries and from there I have created dishes with what little there was back then. What have you discovered? I have been soaking myself and the most surprising thing for me, the strangest thing, has been discovering that he ate lamb. I grew up in the Catholic religion, they educated me with very strong religious beliefs about Easter, they prohibited us from eating meat during that period. And finding that he ate meat at The Last Supper left me a bit puzzled and encouraged me to continue investigating. What menu have you prepared for The Last Supper? A menu based on the products that were there at the time, putting a little creativity in it because my kitchen is signature cuisine. The most fun, the most rewarding, has been to see that with so little you could do so much. I've created a five-course menu, with the bread obviously unleavened. One of the things I have done has been to incorporate a legume native to my country and that eats a lot at Easter, because back then there were legumes. This allowed me to mix the story of my Holy Week with the story of The Last Supper and I really liked it. How is the coronavirus pandemic living in your country? It is a pity what we are experiencing in the Dominican Republic, here already there are quite a few cases of coronavirus, and every day we wake up with more and more. It is a pity, a terrible pity. I have cried seeing how very close friends of Spain have died and they have not even been able to say goodbye, it is the saddest part of the very sad story. Let us pray to God that this ends soon, because I never, never thought of living a story like this. Are they confined there too? Yes. The Government long ago decreed that from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. the following day, you could not go outside, and a 24-hour curfew is being proposed. We know this can go further and we don't want it, so people everywhere are told to stay home, that this is the only way that the virus does not continue to spread. In times of confinement, cooking has become on an important task. Any advice? It makes me smile to see how people want to cook, people who have never fried an egg and now have to. I think we are going to get something very positive out of all this. A group of professional chefs and I have created a group with the motto "Stay at home, health comes through the mouth", in which we propose very, very cheap and above all very healthy recipes. I believe that this epidemic is going to make us more creative and it is going to make us better people, because there is no other way. How is Covid-19 affecting haute cuisine? The haute cuisine sector is experiencing its own epidemic. All the restaurants are closed and it is a shame, I am very sorry for all my colleagues, I know the sacrifice of maintaining Michelin stars. It is not a secret for anyone how complicated it is to maintain haute cuisine and the cost involved. I think we will learn from this, but right now all I feel is sorry for all my colleagues in Spain, because Spain is my second home. A menu of coronavirus? Right now we are all day thinking about what to eat . I think that creativity will come out more afloat for all of us, whether in haute cuisine or in the home kitchen. You have to create menus that serve so that people can protect themselves, so that they increase their defenses and if the virus enters their bodies, and we are all exposed, it affects them less. Well, go ahead ... I am studying a lot, documenting myself a lot. We have a great ingredient, beta carotene, which is found for example in carrots, so eating carrots daily is highly recommended. Another is broccoli, a vegetable that helps us incredibly to raise our defense. And then there are the peppers: they are a huge source of beta-carotenes, a blessing, it is great to eat them daily, even raw. And cabbage, how good is it in Spain. And what foods should be avoided at the moment? I think that the foods we have to avoid are industrially produced foods, processed foods. Excuse me from the industries, but avoiding those foods I think can help fight the coronavirus and strengthen our immune system. Being a woman and a Dominican, has it been difficult for you to make your way in the world of haute cuisine? Imagine: for me it was very difficult. All my life has been very sacrificed. In fact, today women are still considered less in the world of gastronomy, and in haute cuisine it is still much worse. I went through a lot of things to get a place in the world of haute cuisine in a country like Spain, which was also not mine. We have it very difficult in every way. We got used to the fact that the woman was in the house and the man in the street, and damn catchphrase. We were taught that women always had to be in the kitchen, and now it is men who make the mark in haute cuisine and throughout the world.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Final interview
  • history
  • Stay at home

The final interview Mercedes Milá: "It is unfair to crush a government that is facing a tsunami never seen before"

The final interview Mikel Erentxun: "The Government does not tell us the truth of what is happening, but almost better"

Stay at home The most contagious laugh: why humor is an essential service against tragedy