VJ
"I was born in Italy to a Filipino family and moved to NYC in my teens; my career began as a busboy – I didn’t go to culinary school which meant I worked my way up the hard way, from dishwasher to prep cook and around every kitchen station; I learned from my father and inherited his passion for the craft.
Having come from such a diverse background has opened my eyes to the beauty of the world, I grew up with street food and fell in love with the easy prep, its fast service and its affordability for everyone to enjoy. I spent a long time working my way up in restaurant kitchens, learning every section and honing all my skills – but then the door was closed on me when they rejected me for an executive chef position. My dreams crumbled and I decided to move out of fine dining and instead open a Filipino street food cart in the middle of the pandemic.
I value tradition and believe that kitchens should be open canvases where anyone can express their love for food, and cooks should cook whatever they feel like cooking; as much as I take pride in my heritage I believe in exploring unusual foods and earning people’s trust in your community so they are willing to expand their horizons and try new things.
You can let this pandemic hit you, or you can let it make you. The choice is ultimately yours."
Lucero
"I came to NY seven years ago, started my way from the bottom as a cleaner, and eventually moved into the kitchen to work in prep and eventually moved onto the line. I really love the whole vibe and how it all works. Back in Mexico I always wanted to study gastronomy but I could never afford it; I eventually found a way to fund my dream career by working hard and learning as much as I could as I worked my way up.
That’s the beautiful thing about this industry, it doesn’t matter what background you come from or what financial situation you’re in; if you’re willing to put in the work and learn, anyone can make a career in this industry!"
José and Jesus and the story of Birria-Landia.
"They’re the dynamic duo that get up every day to drive down to Roosevelt and 78th. Born in Puebla and forged through decades of cooking prowess, the Moreno brothers are taking New York by storm with their birria.
It all started when José went to California to help open a restaurant that he began obsessing over Tijuana-style birria de res. Over the couple of years he spent there, he worked his own recipe while doing staff meals and used his fellow cooks as test subject – until he perfected it and decided it was time to open up his own taco place.
A recipe that’s been approved by the pros, now taking over the streets.
If you don’t know what birria is, we’ll let you off the hook this time, but you should definitely go and try them out to find out what it is. Let’s just say it’s what makes their tacos so dreamy.
When we visited, there was a line that went way around the block and when we got our tacos and the cup of consomé on the side, we could tell we were in for a world of flavor. That thick, glistening cup of broth acted as a mirror of delight. You come here for the taco, and you stay here for both."
Navia
"I moved to the U.S around 3 years ago and began working in front of the house with my husband at a bar, but when the pandemic hit and they subsequently closed I found myself needing another job. It was then that I found a job in a kitchen! I hadn’t planned to work as a cook but I jumped on and I fell in love with it.
I believe that if you cook while appreciating and loving what you do, the food will come out great. It’s a question of putting your heart into what you do daily. The diversity of cultures is amazing, you always meet people from different places and different backgrounds, and I’ve been fortunate to always work with a respectful team since I’ve always been the only woman in the line. They respect my point of view and my opinion is welcome.
These great experiences I've had have made me rethink my career and future, and made me embark into the gastronomy industry!"
Alberto
"Nowadays that things are slow due to COVID-19 the team usually goes straight home after the shift, I miss the busy days like we had a year ago where you felt the need to go out for drinks or even just to hang with your crew after work!
This type of feeling makes me remember how all it started. At the beginning, I never imagined I would be so into this profession.
16 years ago, I arrived from Mexico having zero idea of how to cook, but as many others can attest to, this was one of the few work opportunities that we were offered employment in.
I started from the bottom thinking that it was something temporary, and that I would never be able to move or scale up. But here I am now! Thankful of this industry, working to be the best version of myself every day."
Dima
"I’ve been cooking on and off now for a couple of years. I never studied gastronomy but there’s something about this place that attracted me. The work environment is great and you get to learn a lot of things while saving money.
My current goal is to pursue a career in computer science and perhaps one day develop a new PoS system that works better and helps keep things more organized in the kitchen; the advantage of me having worked in kitchens now is that I’ll be able to understand the needs of the industry."
Brian
"I went to culinary school six years ago when I decided that it was my calling, that I knew I wanted to be in this for the long run, since then I’ve been working in different restaurants – this is actually my fourth; I think what I’ve learnt the most thanks to working in kitchens is the importance in teamwork. No matter who or where you are, you cannot run a kitchen by yourself, you need your team. It’s also taught me time management and multitasking - it's something us cooks learn to master early on, being able to keep track of time and juggle all the items that are cooking at the same time, while being able to give each of them unique care.
And last but not least, that there is always room to be better, to push harder - you will meet and break your own limits every day!"
Nicolás
"I started cooking professionally when I was 16 in an Italian restaurant and then I started traveling. I ended up living in nine different cities cooking all kinds of food while learning as much as I could from everyone I worked with.
Kitchens have changed my personality a lot, mainly by adding consistency and discipline to my daily life. What first attracted me to this line of work was the free expression, the freedom to do what came out of my heart, without having to worry about anything. I don’t agree that we have the duty to represent our nationality or be bound by it. Seeing all the different backgrounds and knowledge of cooks come together in one place to create dishes is what makes it universal and diverse.
Behind the food you eat there is much more than just the story of the cooks who dedicate their lives to mastering the craft. There is a beautiful and enormous process even before the ingredients get to us, it’s the farmer who gets up in at dawn, the delivery man who stood in the rain waiting to deliver the ingredients; it’s a massive community that wakes up daily so that we cooks can put a plate down in front of you.
I hope that one day everyone will be able to fully appreciate the amount of work that goes into each plate."
Deniz
"I got into cooking purely because I come from a family of architects and I was a really picky eater as a child. I started cooking because I did not want to eat what my family was eating, and I eventually realized I wanted to pursue it as a career, my family fully supported me in that. ⠀
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I went to culinary school in Turkey, and after graduating I spent some time working in France, with the goal of travelling around the glove and cooking while figuring out what to do. It was then that I landed in Miami, fell in love while I was working at a high-end restaurant, and decided to settle down for a while and perhaps open our own place.⠀
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The beauty of the kitchens here is how multicultural they are. You get to meet people from all backgrounds and all corners of the world.⠀
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Being a woman in such a male-dominated environment meant that I had to work harder, while I was working my way up my input was rarely taken seriously and it took me very long to get out of the dish pits and salad sections because no one believed I could cook as well as the men. ⠀
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It is changing slowly, but it will take time. My advice for any woman wanting to start in this industry is to believe in yourself. You are worth more than anyone says, and you need to trust in your own abilities; if you don’t have that trust in yourself, you will never succeed in our industry, no matter how much knowledge or qualifications you have."
Jahel
"I never went to culinary school, I studied music – though I have always been involved in the arts in one form or another.
Music and cooking both share similar characteristics, the different colors that go onto the plates, the fact that you can do a thousand different things with a single ingredient, the fine touches that elevate plates. It is what’s kept me cooking for over a decade, always finding myself back in kitchens because there is endless creativity.
We are making magic with fire. It can get rough with the stress and low incomes, but it is the adrenaline and ever-changing environment that makes it beautiful and worth it."