Chef, sommelier, organic veg grower, and forager

I am Josefina and am in love with the relationship between the palate and the living world. Born in Argentina, I grew up cooking alongside my Spanish grandmother who taught me to “taste the love” in her dishes. Nose-to-tail, seasonality, zero-waste, and the utmost respect for nature were the fundamental values in cooking with which she was raised in her native Andalusian village; values that she transmitted to me in the stories she would tell me as a child. These are the values that inspired my journey. 

In my childhood I would ride horses in the forest learn to identify trees and listen to the spirits of the forest. Although my connection with the living world has always been a compass, it was not until my early thirties when I was living in the UK that I could follow my calling. 

French-educated from a Spanish-Italian family in Argentina, I soon developed an interest in travel and intercultural wisdom.  As a sommelier, I worked for several years in the wine industry in London and Paris, specialising in old and rare wines. Besides a very successful career with the world's top wines and Michelin-starred chefs, London allowed me to reconnect with my love for nature and I took a leap of faith. I began to study organic veg growing, become a forager, and learned to make a living of my passion for cooking. I went on and trained at the kitchen garden-focused Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland where seasonal, organic and local ingredients were at the core of their cooking - all imbued with Celtic lore. I was then part of the slow-food kitchens at Chez Panisse in California and the Rome Sustainable Food Project in Italy. I have also created an award-winning forest-to-table kitchen in Argentina that connects people with the natural world through food.

My cooking is seasonal, simple, and comforting, yet exciting. Inspired by the ebb and flow of nature and the produce-centred Mediterranean cuisine, I explore ways to prepare beautiful vegetables at the peak of their season and make them shine. I love cooking with foraged ingredients, a wellspring of awe of nature that reminds me of its cyclic essence and therefore my own.

I am now based in the South of France where I have focused on taking my commitment to sustainable food further while going deeper into my meditation and Reiki practices. I am part of two community kitchens where I aim to share the joys of simple, seasonal food with a larger public and teach workshops on sustainable cooking. I have also specialised in natural wines, which are living wines made ‘only’ from grapes grown with care and respect for all life. 

https://www.instagram.com/el.banquete.del.bosque/

www.linkedin.com/in/josefina-giménez-burló-2484aa34