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Iris Jordán, 31 years old, chef at Restaurante Ansils in Anciles, Huesca Edu Martín
"We Are Wild but Not Bumpkins": Four Stories of Young Rural Chefs

"We Are Wild but Not Bumpkins": Four Stories of Young Rural Chefs

The challenges faced by those opening a restaurant in depopulated Spain are numerous, until quality is rewarded by a stroke of luck. Thirty-something chefs share their experiences.

Doménico Chiappe

Madrid

Martes, 28 de enero 2025, 17:35

Four young chefs, with Michelin-starred restaurants that have captivated customers, share their stories of struggle to open their establishments in rural areas (Huesca, Cáceres, Asturias, and Jaén), facing local incomprehension and financial deficits, during the presentation 'The Prodigal Sons of Rural Cuisine' at Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España.

Iris Jordán. 31 years old. Restaurante Ansils. Anciles, Huesca.

Life took me to Madrid, the city intimidated me. I left the village because at 16 you could no longer continue studying there. I always knew I wanted to be a chef and returned to the village to help my grandmother, who made stews and scrambled fried eggs. She was going to retire in two years. There I wondered why I had left. But I wanted to do more and it led me to discover what I wanted. I wanted my territory. I began to research the culture that was being lost, interviewing the elderly, and seeking out and learning about plants. I found my path without looking for it. When we undertook the project, we reclaimed my territory, where tourism is ending what my village, of 17 inhabitants, was before there was a ski resort.

The path is not easy and you encounter many obstacles, but you learn how to avoid them. In my case, we made a generational handover. My grandmother was a pioneer in the land and people came to eat her dishes. When I changed them, people didn't like it. But if I had continued with my grandmother's same recipes, they wouldn't have liked it either, because they are not the same hands. The hardest moment was when we removed beef, in the pursuit of being a gastronomic restaurant. 90% of people came to eat meat, and they would get up from the tables. They didn't dare to try new dishes. Seeing people get up and leave is one of the worst things in life. We thought we wouldn't be able to make our style of business work. My brother, who supported me and faced the customers as a great act of love, and I gave ourselves one more season to see if we would succeed. An article by a food critic made it start to fill up.

We are wild, and proudly so, but we are not bumpkins. Now we have all the technology at our disposal and an enviable quality of life.

Xune Andrade Edu Martín

Xune Andrade, 37 years old. Restaurante Monte. San Feliz, Asturias.

I have been in the hospitality industry since I was 15, balancing studies with bar work. I started studying cooking and after training in different restaurants, I ended up in Madrid for seven years, in companies with a high volume of Japanese and French orientation. I understood different gastronomic cultures and the act of cooking. But I am very Asturian, very much from my area and my people, and I had in mind to return home to put down roots. At 28, I began to look for a location and a way to return: savings, income, risk... I was looking for a place in rural environments, although I was advised to do it in the city. Oviedo or Gijón. I found a 'chigre' in a village of 22 inhabitants. I decided to open that project-monte as my own business and to find myself and be more connected with Asturian culture and the local people.

We have been open for five years. I involved those around me in painting, making a table. I wanted everything to be very personal. It is a very young project, in the Asturian rural mountains, where I have a lifestyle I fled from in Madrid. It nourishes me professionally and allows me to be in contact with nature and the seasons in an organic way. I am lucky.

But at first, the farmers and hunters who gathered there didn't understand the guy coming from Madrid, and in the area, they told me I was going to make a mistake, to take a beating. Those were complicated times. We were one in the dining room and another in the kitchen. We added many zeros. But in August, a food critic opened up the customer profile for me, not just the local one. We restarted. And we were awarded the Michelin star and suddenly all the comments from the people in our area changed radically. It was overwhelmed with reservations. Now we have problems but not hardships.

Juan Carlos García Edu Martín

Juan Carlos García. 31 years old. Vandelvira, Baeza, Jaén.

I am from Anoeta, raised there. I was born a chef, from a hospitality family. I studied like any kid, the time came to decide what to do at 16 and I got it right. I was passionate about seeing the sensitivity with which work was done in the kitchen. It is an act of love and generosity. Of sharing. Mine is a family project. I took steps in different places. San Sebastián, Barcelona, Tokyo. But I always had in mind to return home, I wanted to. I was afraid and the pandemic accelerated everything. Both personally and financially, I was dragging my family. We pushed forward. It was coming out until it came out. Now we have evolved. We are more than 25 people in the restaurant. We make direct and seemingly simple cuisine, but complex. We cook Jaén from our perspective. Jaén has a lot to teach. It depends on the olive grove, it has a gastronomy that depends on the soil. We are survivors. We are what we are. When we were awarded the Michelin star, I reflected that it was sad that a company from outside had to come to tell my neighbor that I was good.

We have been called crazy, that I was a ruin for my family, that I should return to my place. But one knows what they want to do, even if it generates an inner fear and gives you a huge sense of responsibility. We are a very young generation and we feel part of the gastronomic sense of belonging that Jaén has begun to have and we are now reaping the direct fruits. How long will it last? We hope for centuries.

Alejandro Hernández Edu Martín

Alejandro Hernández. 38 years old. Restaurante Versátil. Zarza de Granadilla, Cáceres

I didn't like studies and fell in love with cooking. I took a leap to Berasategui's house in the Basque Country and cooking seduced me, it captivated me. But being away from my land, alone, I wanted to return and a project with my brothers arose to return to the village to open a restaurant, an art gallery, a gastrobar. The customer gave us the opportunity by encouraging us. Opening in an area without much gastronomic visibility, in a village of 1,800 inhabitants, was the role we had to develop, with all that culture, trust, and roots. In 2021 we obtained the Michelin star and now with 18 people working, we are the second largest company in the village. It wasn't very touristy and now on weekends there are no rural houses left. It fills up.

I am happy to return to the land with the family, to surround myself with those producers that we city folks are unaware of. Being humble fills you inside. It is a great satisfaction. And you learn from mistakes, more than from successes. The first day we opened, no one passed by the street. That fear in the body makes you go to bed knowing that everything has to be earned, worked for. Nothing is given. We have the culture of sacrifice and effort. We fight and struggle.

In the restaurant, we have a sign that says: we are from the village. We defend that culture and want to share that rural life.

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