Elena Reygadas: "You Must be Close to Earth, Close to Your Homeland"

Elena Reygadas is one of Mexico’s leading culinary talents, and she is passing on her knowledge and skills as a mentor for the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Competition.

Hailing from Mexico City, Reygadas trained as a chef abroad, studying in New York before moving to London to work under Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli. After five years in the UK capital, she returned to her homeland and opened her acclaimed restaurant Rosetta in Mexico City. Today the restaurant is lauded as one of the best in the city with a vibrant and fresh approach to Mexican and international cuisine.

Can you remember the moment you decided to become a chef – what inspired you and what obstacles did you overcome to achieve your dream?

I come from a large family, for which food was the best socialisation mechanism. I learned to cook when I was little. I loved preparing food for my friends. For me, it was a way of showing my affection. When I was deciding what to study, at age 18, there were not many options in Mexico to study cooking, and my family couldn't afford to support me financially to study abroad. So, I studied English Literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. For me it was very important to study there, a public, free university, the largest in Latin America. But the truth is that I never stopped cooking, because in the summers I worked in different restaurants and on weekends I often prepared meals at home. When I finished studying, I accepted a job to cook for the filming of the first movie of one of my brothers and I realised that what I really enjoyed the most was cooking. That is how I decided to become a chef: through practice.

How important are competitions such as S. Pellegrino Young Chef Academy for young chefs?

I think they are important: they give visibility to their work and that opens opportunities up. However, they can also be risky. Never forget that the most important thing is always to be near your restaurant. It must never be neglected. To put it more bluntly: you must be close to earth, close to your homeland.

In the 2019-2020 edition of S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy, for the first time the S.Pellegrino Award for Social Responsibility was awarded to the signature dish that was able to show that principles of sustainability enhance food. How do you integrate sustainability in your kitchen?

For me this is one of the most important questions. We cooks cannot ignore the enormous damage that the food industry is causing to the environment and, therefore, to the life of all the species that live on earth. We are really facing a terrible global ecological crisis. Chefs can make the problem visible, promote other ways of eating and support sustainable ways of producing food. First, there is the issue of vegetarianism. In recent times, I have pushed the menu at Rosetta, my flagship restaurant, towards vegetarianism. I recently served at the gala of one of the most important museums in Mexico, the Mexican Met Gala, so to speak. I decided to make a strictly vegetarian menu. Some people were amazed, many others congratulated me. For me it is essential to put this issue at the centre of public discussion.

Another essential issue is to consume local, seasonal products from small producers. I believe that we must promote sustainable forms of food production from our kitchens. For example, one of our main suppliers is an association dedicated to rescuing chinampas, an ecological pre-Hispanic cultivation method.