Overwhelmed by emotion, the Argentine chef Mauro Colagreco (La Plata, 1976) was appointed in Paris as UNESCO ambassador in favor of biodiversity for the work he does in defense of the environment through his award-winning restaurants.
After the tango player Susana Rinaldi in 1992, he is the second Argentine to achieve this honorary title, which began to be awarded in 1988 and has been awarded to 99 personalities from different countries.
Known for using only seasonal ingredients in his dishes from small farms that respect the environment, Colagreco considered that the relationship with the earth is going in the wrong direction and assured that it is possible to feed the 8,000 million inhabitants of the planet through through sustainable methods.
“We have to review our production methods, our way of consuming, they are great challenges. There is no planet B and we have to learn by reconnecting with nature. Eating without eating the world”, the chef told EFE.
Colagreco made himself. He landed in France at the age of 23, without access to credit and with 10,000 euros in cash. Today he manages fourteen restaurants in Europe, the United States, South America and Asia.
“The key was the energy that one has at the age of 20 and the desire to want to find their way and that love for cooking and food”, added.
Colagreco earned its worldwide fame thanks to the Mirazur, in the French town of Menton (southeast), which in 2019 obtained its third Michelin star. And at the beginning of the year he achieved another in the restaurant el Ceto, in just five months of opening and located in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, very close to the Mirazur.
The Argentine chef, who came to shed tears of emotion during the ceremony, received the document that accredits him with the honorary title of goodwill ambassador from the hands of the director general of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay.
“We had never appointed a chef, it is something that we were missing and that you come to supply. Gastronomy is important, because it can embody a cultural transmission, a heritage that passes from one generation to another and determines how we relate to nature”, Azoulay justified in his speech.
Source: EFE
