Elvis: Executive Chef, La Selva Eco-Lodge & Retreat & GET Galapagos Cruises

Ash: Tell us about your inspiration to become a chef.

Elvis: Well, my story. How I started wanting to be a chef was when I was about 15 years old. There was an event, an event. I was working front of house, in the dining room, and I liked it when people enjoyed the food. Every time they put a bite in their mouth and enjoyed it so much that they'd call the chef out to congratulate him. That's what caught my attention.

In other words, the experience that the chef gives to the guests, to the diners, by conveying that small dish that takes so long to prepare, by connecting through it and stealing smiles, by answering through the food. That's what caught my attention, and I decided to study gastronomy. I studied at school, at Colegio Nacional Galápagos, from third year, national cuisine, local cuisine.

I went looking for courses. I opened doors for myself in different places around Galápagos. I didn't go to the mainland at that time. I preferred to explore more of what the Galápagos Islands had to offer. Back then the image of gastronomy wasn't as developed as it is now in Galápagos. So I wanted to explore more, I took courses, I had teachers from Italy, Argentina, Peru, Chile, and even Italians.

The teaching was very, very strict. So I was like a sponge, if they told me to stay longer, I'd stay extra hours, without pay, without anything. But I knew that what I was learning would serve me in the future. So with that mindset, I always thought one day this will be useful to me, one day I'll apply it, and I never, never lost hope.

I always said I'm going to be a chef someday, I'm going to make it someday. And that was my mindset. To gain experience I'd leave one job after a year or two and move to another job, to gain more experience in what I needed, in storage, in stock keeping, in costs.

Because it's not just the kitchen, not just cooking. The kitchen is about managing it well, knowing how many losses you have, how you can make use of the waste in the product, how you can make the most of it so the business has greater profitability. And you, as the chef, in your kitchen and with your team, so they learn from you, how you manage things, how you respect the product, from the supplier through logistics to the diner.

Ash: I first met you ten years ago when you were preparing breakfast for the guests. Can you talk about your journey from then to now, becoming Executive Chef for this company?

Elvis: Well, as I was telling you, I gained most of my experience in Galápagos. I hadn't opened myself up to the mainland, Quito, Guayaquil, other provinces. This all happened around 2015. My wife got sick. She got sick from the water, the water there isn't very good.

And she went to the mainland, and because of her health, she didn't want to return to Galápagos anymore. So I said, well, family comes first. Let's look for new horizons on the mainland. So since you're in the gastronomy field, you know people in the tourism field, you meet people. I met someone who helped me, who gave me work here.

When I went to Guayaquil to compete in the Culinary Cup, Raíces, well, the news I had to give the chef was that I would no longer be staying with the company, I'm resigning, I want to leave through the front door. And if you have any contacts you could share with me, I'd welcome that.

So they moved things along with the contact and everything. And actually, before that, the news reached me. A friend who has worked here for years at La Selva Lodge sent me a message. He says, Elvis, I know you're leaving, resigning from the company you're at, and I need you here, because he knew my work, he knew how I am in the kitchen and all that.

So he gave me the opportunity to come here. The company has helped me a lot because it allowed me to open up more to the mainland, to the east, to the Amazon region, because there are certain products I didn't know, there are certain products that aren't allowed into the islands because of pests.

So here I was able to expand more in terms of products, learn more about the subject, and even more about the jungle, working with the local community, with local people and local products. How it all starts, how people get the product from harvest, from their farm, from their land, and bring it to us.

It's beautiful, because behind a dish there's a product, and behind that product there are hands that harvested it, local hands, hands from here, from the Amazon. And the products are very, very different. So that helped me even more with researching this product, how I can use it in sauces.

How I can use it in a dessert, in a main course. Before, the management was different, it wasn't good. I couldn't explore as much as I wanted to, but now I do feel that the company gives me the opportunity to explore, to innovate, to go further, and every month, every year, finding new things, giving our diners, our guests the best, and above all, that the dish from the kitchen doesn't just go to the table as a plate.

So that an experience comes along behind that dish, one that reaches the guest. I want them to say wow, that here in the jungle, surrounded by so much vegetation, so many monkeys, so many animals, to find this kind of food, and that they feel confident that we are following good manufacturing practice standards, and all that.

I'm grateful, in a way, for what happened with my wife, because thanks to her I was able to leave and have this experience, more than anything, to learn more about the Amazon, about the products, about how to manage a kitchen. Even more so, because this is where I said, well, this is where I have to make the most of everything I learned before, from all the people, friends, colleagues, even down to the dishwasher.

How do you wash a plate properly, how do you dry it, how do you disinfect it. I had all of that knowledge, but I wasn't bringing it out until today. So all of that helped me a lot, and now I make the most of it.

Ash: It's been a pleasure tasting your cuisine over the last few days, both in the Galápagos and here, and the creativity in the dishes is quite incredible and delicious, some of the best food I've had. I think you've just answered it, but where do you get your inspiration for creating dishes like that?

Elvis: Well, the inspiration comes from in here, from the heart, from the soul. I don't know if it's a gift or something, in my mind I try to create the dish. I don't watch videos, I don't look at other chefs' recipes. I say, I want that, I'm going to put it together, in my mind I'm already imagining it.

That's how I see how to structure a dish from scratch, something where, when they eat it, they say I'm going to look this up, and if they search on YouTube, if they look on social media, they won't find it. It's signature cuisine, fusion cuisine, where we fuse local products with culinary roots. For example we draw on Japanese influences, coast and highland traditions, with Peruvian and Ecuadorian style sauces.

So all those things, that connection, makes my mind, my heart and my soul come together to convey it in a dish, so the guest feels happy, feels as content as possible. Yes, when I first came to join La Selva, to learn about it and everything, my first days.

It caught me off guard a little, with the climate, but I adapted, little by little. From when I started to convey what I wanted here, and how I connected and told myself, I don't want to be just another one, I don't want to be just one more person in the kitchen. I want to lead, and I want to have my own identity in my dishes, in having my name be heard, the team be heard, La Selva where I'm working, connecting it and conveying it with what I've learned over time from the company, the agency, La Selva Lodge.

And Golden Galápagos has helped me a lot, to grow. I recently graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Peru. The experience was extraordinary. We don't have bad gastronomy here, we actually have excellent gastronomy that we need to make the most of, we need to bring it out to its fullest. A product is more than just a product. So that was my way of looking at things, and being able to lead and say, no, I can do this, I can take this hotel, with all my knowledge, I can manage it well, I can give the best.

In every dish, in every product, in every supplier, in every logistical step, in every menu change, the strategy of how to make the most of a product. How can I manage if I don't have a product? How can I replace it? All of that builds me up. Throughout my career over the years I've become more skilled at that.

Ash: You mentioned it a little before, but how does the environment inspire you to create your dishes? Do you draw on the Amazon, for example, when you're here, and the Galápagos in your dishes?

Elvis: Yes, I try to separate the two. I know that in Galápagos certain products can't come in, but here they can. Here we have an endless number of products where we can make the most of them and create many wonderful things. In Galápagos we're limited because of the island's policies, but that doesn't mean we can't produce excellent food there too.

In other words, my whole experience, my vision was to go further and further with ingredients. If something limits me, to still get 100% out of it, to the maximum, from something as simple as a bell pepper to a high quality protein. We even have excellent fish that are unique to there, like the brujo, the palometa, the bacalao rey, the mero, these are products found only in Galápagos.

If you can't find them somewhere else, make the most of what you have. There's no need to stress, no, I can't do it because I don't have another ingredient, or I can't do it to the fullest because such and such hasn't arrived.

So I understood that you have to get the most out of what you have, and if you work with the product you have and you elevate it, you're on another level entirely. I understood that over time, because sometimes a chef says, ah no, this didn't arrive, I can't make it, or I can't replace this. But no, from those small inconveniences that I heard and saw from certain chefs, I thought, let's think differently.

Be that differentiating factor where there is no "I can't" or "it can't be done." No, let's try it. Trying means believing you can do it, believing in creating it. And if you create it and believe it, you're on another level, making the most of the local products, especially in Galápagos. And if they're cruises, obviously luxury cruises, give a different kind of experience, one where the guest feels part of exploring the flora and fauna of Galápagos, and when they sit down to eat they also experience the seafood and the local produce. And that is what elevates it to haute cuisine.

Ash: Thank you very much, Elvis, that was much appreciated.

Elvis: No, thank you very much to you. For the interview, right? I wasn't expecting it. For me it's a privilege to be part of the company. And the growth that I've had, I wish I had everything I've given now, compared to when I first arrived here at La Selva at that time. But well, today is different.

I am very grateful to Señora Luisa. She is a very important pillar of the company. Don Javier. They are two extremely important pillars because they are, not just bosses, they are family, they are a team. They give us security, they give us support, they are there behind us, they don't leave us alone, they are always there, innovating, giving ideas, and together, one shines and gives more than one has.

You even set yourself challenges, let's not do this, let's do something else, let's try this, let's try that. So we work hand in hand with the management, with the whole team, with the whole hotel, the Lodge, the boats. She doesn't leave us, she doesn't let us go, and that's a good thing. I wouldn't call her a boss or an owner, I'd call her family, because she's always there behind us.

She always asks how we're doing, how the team is, how the guests are. So if we're well, our guests are well too. And that's what we pass on to others, every day, with the food, the kitchen, with the rooms, a well made bed, comfortable. The guides, the same with the excursions, the weather.

Sometimes you adapt. It's understandable that we're in the Amazon, you have to make the most of what you have and handle things differently with what we have. And I am so happy to be here. When I saw the photo it reached my heart because, ten years, and it's even a little emotional, because I wasn't expecting it. I wasn't expecting it, because for me it was a tough journey when I started. It's not easy, it's tough, but now I feel firm as a person.

Loyal, above all, loyal. Loyal to the company, loyal to the family, where if we are well and we transmit with love, and we do with love what we studied, how we prepared ourselves, we transmit that to our bosses. I truly wasn't expecting that photo, ten years, that's a lot of time. Not two, not one, not months, ten years, where I started here and said, no, I want to be a chef, I want to lead, I want there to be no resistance to change, the ideas that one has, the ideas that one

keeps learning every day as the years go by. You keep learning more, right? You don't stop at what you've already learned. You're always studying, reading, researching so that the company and the whole team keeps rising, and keeps winning awards, even though an award doesn't make you better or worse, but it's like an emotion, winning something, wow!

The hotel won because of this, because of that. The company is on top. We are doing things right. If we are doing things right, things come on their own. Yes, truly. Thank you very much. No, no, no, forgive me if I get a little emotional, but it's the emotion. The love that I have here for La Selva.

They say, why do you work in the jungle and not somewhere closer to home? Because it would be wonderful, the beaches and all that. I say, no, it's not just the love I have for it now, it's the same love I once had. Because when I first set foot here, on the very first day, I felt the embrace of the jungle. I felt it in the deeply green trees, the lagoon, I felt it.

I don't know if other colleagues who have been working here for years have felt the same, but I felt it. I felt that I am happy here working, not just working, enjoying it, enjoying it here at the company.

Ash: Your passion in your dishes is fantastic, thank you very much.

Elvis: Thank you. Thank you very much to you.