Acknowledgments
Peru’s World Class Chef
Pía León, creative and authentic
By the time she finished high school, she knew she wanted to be a chef; there was no doubt in her mind. Ever since she was a little girl, she had made desserts; to her, the kitchen felt like a personal, creative space. Life, which always has unexpected surprises in store for us, led her to Central, the World’s Best Restaurant at the time, where she learned everything she knows—and found love, too—alongside the great Virgilio Martínez. In 2021, she was named the best chef on the planet by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
In the years since then, Pía León’s name has crossed borders. She remains humble despite it all. She knows that learning is a lifelong process, and she is always looking for something new. She is the creator of the restaurant Kjolle, which serves a cuisine she describes as free, colorful, and diverse. There are a la carte dishes and a tasting menu, masterpieces by a young woman with a deep respect for her craft.
Pía grows enthusiastic when talking about Peruvian cooks and our cuisine. With great pride, she shares her conviction that there is a whole world waiting to be discovered in Peru alone. That is why she appreciates the Mater Iniciativa research center, run by Malena Martínez, Virgilio’s sister. There, the unceasing exploration of our biodiversity and its gifts has allowed her to conceive a cozy dining table, where forgotten or little-known ingredients fulfill their sublime potential.
The chef believes that a good cook must be authentic and honest, able to assemble a good team and value its members. An admirer of Peru’s “rich and playful” cuisine, she notes that it was the great fortune of Peruvian food to have absorbed influences from different immigrant cultures, such as those of China and Japan. She sees food as a uniting force for Peruvians and recognizes the inspiration it gives to many young cooks, thanks to others’ tireless work and dedication.
“Luxury in Latin America doesn’t mean caviar. It means eating a potato that has just been dug up from the ground,” she once said in an interview. That’s how down- to-earth Pía is. For her, cooking is a challenge, day in and day out.
