Ella Asbún Ormachea is Bolivian, a lover of her country and passionate about gastronomy and sports. She started her university studies with a golf scholarship at Vanderbilt University and obtained a Bachelor's degree in Communication with a specialty in Advertising from Purdue University. She began her professional career working in marketing until she ventured in the world of food. After receiving professional training at the Argentine Institute of Gastronomy in Buenos Aires, she took up an internship at the Martín Berasategui restaurant, holder of 3 Michelin stars in Spain. Armed with that experience and the dream of contributing to the culinary scene of her country, she returned to Bolivia in 2012 and has since furthered her career in project management and the food industry. In October 2017, she accepted the biggest challenge of her professional career, and took the position of general management at Gustu. In the process she would challenge the preconceptions held by the world in regards to Bolivian food.

What is the source of inspiration for your projects?

The identity and mission of Gustu. Our key aims are to contribute and enrich the community that surrounds us and to put Bolivian gastronomy at the forefront, it’s an engine of national socio-economic development.

Several projects have been built on these values, including Sabores Silvestres, Festival Ñam Bolivia, and now ASB, Solidarity Food for Bolivia, which seeks to feed the staff of health centers that are on the front line fighting the pandemic.

How do your projects protect the produce that Bolivia has and how should that be cared for?

The Sabores Silvestres project was born with the purpose of giving greater impetus to the work we were doing in regards to revaluing national food heritage and opening markets for producers. This project promotes the conservation of biodiversity and the preservation of Bolivian food heritage and gastronomic culture. We do this through the work of an interdisciplinary group of professionals in conjunction with WCS, the Wildlife Conservation Society. Together we are committed to research, understanding, conservation and transformation of products in the various ecosystems on Bolivian soil. Sabores Silvestres participates in exploration trips to different ecosystems, in which we go through a process of research and product development. Those products are presented on Gustu plates for restaurant guests and the research is listed for an interactive platform.

How has the Bolivian market and gastronomy changed since you started?

I have had a career in gastronomy for more than 10 years. Gustu gave Bolivian gastronomy more prominence on the world stage. The levels of execution and the number of good proposals have risen. I have also seen a dichotomy due to the growing appreciation of what Bolivia produces, there are more ventures that offer alternatives that distance us from that wealth of food culture that offer fried chicken. We have to continue promoting cultural wealth and biodiversity with quality proposals at all levels.

What relationship do you have in your projects in terms of production in view of customer experience and care for the environment?

There are two different factors that one has to deal with, one is service and the other identity. We lookout for where we can reduce waste and improve how we can contribute to caring for the environment. In relation to the experience with clients, we seek that their experience is unique and that they feel at home. Everything we do, we do with love.

What is your vision for the future?

Due to the pandemic, there are adjustments to be made. However, we believe that respect for the producer and the product should be paramount. We have great biodiversity and cultural wealth that we must not only preserve but also appreciate. This implies creating experiences for commensals who communicate those values and also respect the production process and the nature that provides us with that produce.

How has the pandemic affected the service industry? Has it changed or will it change gastronomy in Bolivia?

It has had an effect, especially in gastronomy. We have developed a new proposal specifically for the situation we are going through. We understand that we must always evolve keeping our principles in the process.

We have not only developed a new proposal that is suitable for home consumption for the local market, we are also with the Solidarity Food initiative for Bolivia. Through the support of various institutions and people we are providing nutritious food to staff in health centres so they can have a strengthened immune system during the pandemic.

What does the future hold for the gastronomy of Bolivia?

The future is open, despite the fact that we are going through a difficult stage. If we unite and collaborate between different initiatives we can carry out the best that Bolivia has to offer and plate food that respects its culture, biodiversity and all the backroom staff that participate in the production chain.

How is gastronomy defining the national identity of Bolivia?

Through the tireless work of the various spokesmen that Bolivian gastronomy has in the different regions, Bolivian gastronomy, and therefore Bolivia, is taking center stage. Not only internationally but also nationally.

This enhancement of pride allows the cultural wealth and biodiversity that Bolivia offers to be valued more. This leads to the preservation of Bolivian food heritage and is a source of income for many Bolivians.

Why is it important to find locally sourced products rather than imported products?

By consuming or working with the local product, you also improve the living conditions of the local producer. Likewise, you reduce the impact on the environment the distance required to purchase the product and if you consume the product in season you will consume it in its best conditions.

Photo: Iván Rodríguez 

This article was originally published in the issue 82 of Bolivian Express, We are reediting it with an update on Quiroga’s new project.

Update

Alongside Santiago Diaz, a long time D.C. resident who grew up in La Paz, Sebastian Quiroga co-founded Ali Pacha DC. The pair have been best friends since the age of four and have remained close despite their lives being rooted in different cities. In 2018 they came together and the idea for Ali Pacha DC germinated, leading to its pending launch. Ali Pacha DC’s launch will be a massive statement to the culinary world. With the aim of providing their Washingtonian patrons with a taste of Bolivia, it is another step into the light of global recognition for Quiroga, Ali Pacha and Bolivian cuisine.

On the corner of Calles Potosí and Colón in the bustling, chaotic centre of La Paz, tucked between two chicken restaurants, almost out of sight, stands the gourmet vegan boîte Ali Pacha and newly opened café-bar Umawi. Here I find head chef and founder Sebastian Quiroga. As I sit down, he presents me with an espresso shot placed on a floppy-disk coaster. As everything else here, the coffee is 100% Bolivian; the taste and the presentation reflect the overall quality of the experience.

In 2012, Quiroga, born in La Paz, travelled to London to study at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, where he received classical training in French cuisine. He then joined the team at Copenhagen’s famed Restaurant Relae for a six-month internship. There, he was introduced to a new idea of cuisine, one which doesn’t necessarily involve meat as the centerpiece of the dish. He then returned to Bolivia with a freshly formed idea of starting his own business. One and a half years later, Ali Pacha was born. Since then, the restaurant has received international recognition in three different categories at the 2017 World Luxury Restaurant Awards: South American Cuisine Global Winner, Best Cocktail Menu Continent Winner and Gourmet Vegan Cuisine Continent Winner.

Quiroga’s concept is simple: give a flavourful, 100% Bolivian gourmet experience, without using any animal products. And this vision doesn’t stop with the food and drinks; it also involves Ali Pacha’s service, decor and design. Most of the objects in both the restaurant and the café-bar are secondhand, recycled items purchased locally that also carry cultural significance. Pointing to the electrical cables that decorate Ali Pacha’s ceiling, Quiroga explains that it’s all meant to reference the chaos of La Paz outside the door – albeit in a more organised way – and that the essence of the place is truly Bolivian in nature.

For Quiroga, the restaurant and café ‘showcase what the country has to offer, which also happens to be vegan.’ Everything is plant-based, and everything comes from Bolivia, from the quinoa and potatoes native to the west of the country to exotic and less-known tropical fruits found in Bolivia’s eastern jungles. Quiroga brings the entirety of the country together on the plate, carefully and creatively combining ingredients that would never have met elsewhere.

Quiroga’s concept is simple: give a flavourful, 100% Bolivian gourmet experience, without using any animal products.

Ali Pacha means ‘Universe of Plants’ in Aymara. Veganism came as a surprise to Quiroga, something that he learned about during his time abroad and after watching the 2005 documentary Earthlings, which powerfully and brutally depicts the realities of the meat industry. ‘I come from a family of meat-lovers. I used to go fishing and hunting when I was younger,’ Quiroga recalls, still slightly surprised by how much he has changed. Alongside a growing vegan/vegetarian offering in La Paz, Quiroga wants to provide a high-quality cuisine in which flavour comes first. ‘The priority is not necessarily to be healthy; it’s to cook good food,’ he says. ‘Sometimes people walk in and they don’t know that there is no meat, so I need to convince them to stay,’ he adds. ‘When that happened [when we first opened], I used to tell these people, “If you don’t like it, you won’t have to pay.” But people have always paid.’ The food, it seems, speaks for itself.

Opening the restaurant in the centre of La Paz wasn’t an obvious or easy choice. In an area where fast-food options proliferate and buildings are falling apart, Quiroga saw potential and an opportunity to revitalise the old centre. Two years after opening, Quiroga’s bet is paying off, with the addition of the new café-bar Umawi, which in Aymara means ‘Let’s drink!’ Umawi offers a selection of the best Bolivian coffees and liquors, accompanied with a selection of sandwiches and snacks. Quiroga wants to see these ingredients shine in signature cocktails and by using modern coffee-making techniques. Undoubtedly, when visiting Ali Pacha and Umawi, Quiroga’s passion for gastronomy and his country stands out and can be appreciated in the care and consideration put into each detail.

‘The priority is not necessarily to be healthy; it’s to cook good food.’

—Sebastian Quiroga

Photos by : What’s Cooking Valentina - IG

A rising female chef in Bolivia

This article was originally published in the issue 82 of Bolivian Express.

We all know women who cook: mothers, sisters, grandmothers, the woman around the corner who makes api con pastel. Finding a female cook is easy, but finding a female chef? That’s another story. The culinary world is still a male-dominated space, even though these chefs usually talk about how following the recipes of their mothers.

But things are slowly changing. Not long ago I met Valentina Arteaga, the woman behind the WhatsCookingValentina Instagram account. Arteaga is a cooking teacher for children at the Alalay foundation, she makes videos of recipes for the food magazine Azafrán and is the owner and chef of a soon-to-open restaurant. Cooking has always been her passion. She studied in a culinary school in Peru for three years, interned at Gustu, worked as an intern for a year at a Ritz Carlton in the United States and completed a master’s degree in Spain.

Two years ago, Arteaga came back to Bolivia. At first, she wanted to open a restaurant, but the project seemed too complicated at the time. So she became a food consultant. Five months ago, she started her Instagram account, which has now more than 2,000 followers. In light of this quick success, she decided to launch her brand What’s Cooking Valentina, with the goal of doing something new, something that doesn’t exist in Bolivia. That’s how she started taking pictures of her meals in her kitchen, sharing recipes and writing about the places where she likes to eat. 

Everything about her brand concerns Bolivian food and culture. It gives people from abroad an insider’s look into Bolivian cuisine and the local way of life. She shows the Bolivian way of cooking sopa de mani for example. She combines traditional products with non-traditional meals, like an avocado salad with roasted chuño, tomatoes, onions and a cilantro dressing.

‘You are pretty, you are going to be successful’

Arteaga’s dream of taking her vision to the next level and opening a restaurant is close to becoming real. She recently found a place and says that in three or four months people will be able to sit at one of Phayawi’s tables. Phayawi ‘will serve Bolivian food, but I can’t tell you more, I am keeping it secret for the moment,’ she says. The concept of Phayawi (which means kitchen in Aymara) is also to prove to young cooks in Bolivia that, ‘there is a lot to do here… This is a moving country… Everything is yet to be built.’ A lot of her Instagram followers have asked if she thinks it’s worth moving back to Bolivia, to which she always answers ‘Yes, you should come back and invest in Bolivia.’ 

Teaching and sharing her love of cooking is equally as important to Arteaga. This is why she is involved with the Alalay Foundation where she gives cooking lessons to children. The purpose of the foundation is ‘to reverse the conditions of affective, economic, social and spiritual poverty for children and teenagers in high risks situations.’ She volunteers two times a week, one time to cook with the boys, and the other time to cook with the girls. In one of her lessons for girls she taught them how to prepare greek yoghurt with fruits. Arteaga not only teaches her students how to cut and select the ingredients. She also teaches them why it is important to have clean hands before cooking and to be polite and respectful to others. She takes the children to different restaurants so they can discover new types of food. The next visit in her lesson plan, for example, is a Japanese restaurant where her students can try sushi and other dishes for the first time in their lives.

‘Women need to empower each other to take the Bolivian gastronomy to another level.’ —Valentina Arteaga

Even though Arteaga is a rising chef in Bolivia, being a woman in a man’s world can sometimes be hard. A colleague once told her: ‘You are pretty, you are going to be successful,’ but comments like those only get on her nerves. One of the reasons she came back to Bolivia was to show people that women could be as successful as men in this trade. After all there are very successful female chefs in Bolivia, like Marsia Taha Mohamed, the current head chef at Gustu, or Gabriela Prudencio, chef at Propiedad Pública. Arteaga wants to inspire women, which she is already accomplishing through her Instagram account. 

‘Women need to demonstrate they are capable of doing what men are doing,’ she says. ‘Women need to empower each other to take the Bolivian gastronomy to another level.’