One on one with Betty Vázquez

1. They call you Chef Betty. You already have your profession printed in your name…

They call me Chef Betty and, yes, it’s like a love tattoo, a responsibility with each step I take, with each dish I sign. After 42 years in the world of gastronomy, an image is created of you, a brand, and it forces you to be very clear about the steps you take, looking to the future from the point of view of the food and from respect for the time you have spent in this career.

2. Is it true that you wanted to be a pilot and not a cook?

I always liked to cook, but yes it’s true, my first profession was Air and Aviation Control. I changed profession, but did not forget that this first career gave me discipline and responsibility for human life. But with time, I became aware that through cooking, I could make sure that every step I took would be sound, and that if I liked what I cooked for myself so much, I could cook for more people. For every person I have cooked for, I have done it with joy, commitment, responsibility and love… because I believe that cooking has all of these ingredients.

3. And how did you end up being a chef?

As fate would have it… while I waited to progress in my previous job, I went to work at my family’s hotel and it was there where I discovered my perfect love and my perfect partner: my love of food and a cuisine that became both my reason for living and my evolution.

4. After all your successes, do you think that this was predestined?

Perhaps it was. I ate well at home, there was a respect for the dinner table, but sometimes one doesn’t understand destiny. Everything I have learned has always been a support for future stages. So, if I had to go through aviation in order to get to what has made me happy and fulfilled for so many years, God bless aviation.

5. But, did you like cooking? Where did you learn to cook and what links do you have to your beginnings?

I always liked eating and, at home, we were good hosts. My parents got us used to fine dining, always with more places at the table than was necessary, ready for friends and for some good conversations. After that, it was travelling that opened up the world and gave me the opportunity to fall in love with the flavours, colours, textures and traditions of my Mexico and of the countries I was getting to know.

6. At what point did you decide to become a professional chef?

After working in the hotel for 6 months, I began to search for ways of professionalising my empirical knowledge of gastronomy, as I felt that everything I was learning was not enough. Today, I continue to think in the same way, I think learning is continuous, that in gastronomy you always have to pay attention and be constantly evolving.

7. You travelled to Paris to train… tell us about what you gained from this experience.

In France, I opened myself up to learning about gastronomy. I was at a school where I was taught respect for every product, for traditions and for my personal future within the world of gastronomy. It was from there that I attained my technique which allows you to understand processes and results and how, through it, you can find ways to create new flavours.

8. You are recognised as being an ambassador for the Nayarita gastronomy. What does Mexican food mean to you?

It is the gastronomy that shaped me, it is my grandmother’s food and that of my ancestors, and it is a great responsibility to show the correct traditions for each recipe. It is to keep searching through all the country’s traditions for the recipes of the old ones, and to make the new generations see what marvels
we possess, both in the process and in the final result. It is the life and history of a country, what has shaped us and what we cannot lose: our identity.

9. What would your star ingredient be?

I wouldn’t be able to cook without sea salt, salt crystals. It gives a flavour of the sea that I adore. People know that it’s Chef Betty speaking or writing when I send sea-flavoured kisses… Because that is what I got from the Port of San Blas on the Nayarit Riviera, my inspirational place by the sea. It is a magic that can be seen in the cuisine of El Delfín, my restaurant at the Hotel Garza Canela.

10. Have you cooked for royalty, presidents of the Mexican Republic, heads of state, socialites… What do you do so that it doesn’t go to your head?

Every day, I try to cook the food for the staff and I eat with them at the table so that I don’t forget where I came from and who I am. I wash my plate like I do at home, and we always work together. I am grateful for the popularity every day, but my feet are well planted on the ground.

11. Your charisma, career path and your good deeds have even taken you to the TV. What’s it like to be a Masterchef judge?

In the same way as in my kitchen, it is a great responsibility, because there are millions of people watching the programme and I want every word that I utter to be used for correcting in a fraternal way, to make the competitors grow and to entertain everyone that is watching us. After 10 seasons, I can say that we are all one big family.

12. You manage a hotel restaurant, you’re a recognised chef, you’re a Masterchef judge… Do you consider yourself an all-terrain woman?

Being a woman, being a cook, being a judge, feeling fulfilled, knowing that I’m happy… Yes, I could say that I’m an all-terrain woman! I need time, challenges, and above all, to have a clear mind about where I want to go.

13.What does sustainable gastronomy mean to you, and how much importance do you give to it when choosing the products you cook with?+

I have a kitchen that is filled with the closeness and love of each one of my providers, and we make our food miles add up to almost zero. Being able to support the local communities that are around my own community, and helping to give the families the opportunity to sustain themselves, has created a stronger and more united community.

Your cooking is about the produce that you choose. If you want to cook well, you need to have the best produce. Here, the produce travels from the fields to my kitchen when it is already ripe. It doesn’t ripen in transit or in the refrigerators. This means that the flavours are honest and full.

14. Is there any place or town in the world that is an example of sustainable gastronomy?

We could talk about the Nordic countries and many European cities. At the same time, I think that many small communities around the world may be an example.

My grandmother was a rural teacher and she taught me that, if you teach a community to grow their food, they won’t go hungry. So cooks should show our communities to keep growing together and to be able to grow our food ourselves. 

15. Lastly, what inspires Betty Vázquez? 

Nature, human beings… I still believe in the wonder of creation. All the answers are there.All you need to do is to find the right questions.