Gastón Acurio

Gastón Acurio Jaramillo (born October 30 1967) is a peruvian chief cook and an important representative of peruvian cuisine. He is owner of international restaurants and author of several example books. Besides, he's the host of his own television broadcast in Peru and has cooperated in several magazines.

Life

Gastón Acurio Jaramillo was born as a son of Gastón Acurio Velarde and Jesús Jaramillo Razuri. He was the only son and had four older sisters.

After dropping his law studies in Lima, he studied cooking at the hotel trade school Sol in Spain and the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. There he became acquainted with his later wife Astrid Gutsche, originally from Germany.

In 1994, he returned with a great cooking knowledge to Peru and applied it in a Gourmet level to the peruvian cuisine, resulting in the development of the so-called Cocina Novoandina . Nowadays he is recognized as one of the most important chief cooks of Latin America.

Peruvian Restaurant Franchises

Gastón Acurio is a truly peruvian visionary, who has put all his effort in rediscovering the peruvian cuisine and developping ideas to offer in restaurants all typical peruvian meals in a modern and attractive way. As a result, he has turned this ideas into reality by creating various and successful restaurant franchises that focus on a specific category of the peruvian cuisine.

Along with his wife Astrid, he manages since 1994 the restaurant franchise Astrid & Gastón which opened originally in the district of Miraflores in Lima. This franchise has expanded over the years in Latin America and recently in Europe, opening restaurants in Santiago de Chile, Bogotá, Quito, Caracas, Panamá and Madrid.

The Cafe del Museo lies in the art-historical museum Rafael Larco Herrera in Lima. The Café was arranged by the architect Jordi Puig.

The confectionery and pralinerie T'anta was opened in 2003. T'anta comes from Quechua and it means bread.

La Mar is one Cevichería in Lima. Its specialty is peruvian seafood.

The latest and most comercially succesful franchise Pasquale Hnos. opened in late 2006 in Lima. It's a fast food restaurant which specialty are peruvian sandwiches, traditionally known as sanguches.

Other franchises to be released by Gastón Acurio are:

• Panchita, a peruvian anticuchería.
• A pollería which will attempt to release worldwide the peruvian pollo a la brasa (roasted chicken).
• A chifa which intends to create a chinese-peruvian fusion cuisine.
• Hoteles Nativa, a hotel chain which will focus on peruvian culture and will be based on Acurio's franchises.

Links

• Astrid & Gastón Official site
• Pasquale Hnos. Official site
• Gaston's famous speech at Universidad del Pacífico
• Gaston Acurio interview