When I think of cooking, the only thing that comes to my mind is love. From a very young age, I had to move from my place of origin to a new country, the one I call home now. I left my loved ones and the only things I knew behind, but something I never left behind was the taste of the food. All the memories I have from my early childhood have a particular taste in my mind. That feeling of “saudade,” as they say in Brazil, was what awakened my passion for food that tastes like pure love.

That’s why whenever I start the process of creating a dish for my loved ones, I begin by connecting first to the feeling of the final result I want to create to nourish them, to give them something that tastes like home but at the same time gives them a sense of eating out in a fancy restaurant, like those that focus on the overall experience not only on the quality and richness of the food, but the whole idea brought to you on a plate and the environment around it.

So, from a very young age, I started experimenting with food to connect myself through my taste buds to those moments of joy I had experienced in the past, and so it began, trying to create the same flavors, textures, and, more importantly, to have that moment of glory when you take the first bite of your favorite food. Ever since, I’ve been on a constant journey of creativity in the kitchen, creating the most memorable dishes for those around me, nourishing and pampering myself, and, at times, diving into business, making lots of mistakes and learning while having fun with the thing I love the most: cooking!