Gastro-tourism: why Medellín is Latin America’s new culinary capital
Gastro-tourism has a definition problem worth resolving before talking about Medellín as a destination. It is not tourism of famous restaurants or Instagrammable experiences. It is tourism motivated by genuine interest in understanding a culture through its cooking, its ingredients and its producers. With that definition, Medellín has a real gastro-tourism argument that cities with […]
Colombian cheese pairings with European wines at La Makha
Colombia does not have the cheesemaking tradition of France, Italy or Spain, but it has something those countries do not have: artisan cheeses with unique flavor profiles produced in specific microclimates that exist nowhere else in the world. Paipa cheese, produced in the Boyacá municipality of the same name at more than 2,500 meters altitude, […]
The impact of AI on gastronomy: how it helps without replacing us
Artificial intelligence in gastronomy has two narratives that coexist without much clarity between them. The first is the replacement narrative: robots that cook, algorithm-generated menus, experiences designed by language models. The second is the tool narrative: AI that optimizes the operation so the human team can do better what only humans can do. The reality […]
Solo dining: the pleasure of eating alone at a luxury restaurant
Eating alone at a high-level restaurant has a reputation it does not deserve. Most people who have not done it associate solo dining with social discomfort, with the feeling of being watched or with the absence of something that should be there. People who have done it in the right context describe something completely different: […]
The science of fermentation in modern cooking at La Makha
La fermentación tiene unos diez mil años de historia como técnica de preservación y transformación de alimentos. Lo que es reciente es su integración en la alta cocina de autor como herramienta de sabor con argumento técnico, no solo como guiño a la tradición ancestral.Fermentation has about ten thousand years of history as a food […]
River fish vs. sea fish: the culinary duel at La Makha’s table
Colombia has a geographic position that should make fish one of the central axes of its haute cuisine gastronomy: two coastlines, the Pacific and the Caribbean, with radically different marine ecosystems, plus one of the richest freshwater biodiversity river networks in South America. And yet, most high-level restaurants in Medellín serve Norwegian salmon or imported […]
Why fine dining service is evolving: La Makha and the new luxury standard
Classic fine dining had a problem the restaurant industry took decades to acknowledge: it was designed to impress more than to enjoy. The rigid protocol, the millimeter-synchronized service, the almost liturgical silence of the dining room and the distance between the team and the diner produced experiences diners went out to talk about, but not […]
The bread ritual: sourdough and ancient grains in haute cuisine at La Makha
Bread at a haute cuisine restaurant is the first judgment the diner makes about the kitchen before any dish from the menu arrives. Industrial white bread served in a wicker basket with a refrigerator butter packet communicates exactly the opposite of what a silent luxury restaurant should communicate. Sourdough changed the conversation about bread in […]
The Antioquian terroir: microclimates and unique flavors at La Makha
The terroir concept was born in French viticulture to describe how the soil, climate, altitude and humidity of a specific place affect the character of the wine produced there. A Burgundy Pinot Noir does not taste the same as one from Oregon even though the grape is technically identical, because each place’s terroir produces a […]
Non-alcoholic mixology: the rise of premium mocktails at La Makha and Medellín
The mocktail had for many years the same problem as the vegetarian menu in high-level restaurants: it existed because it had to exist, not because there was a gastronomic criterion behind it. A fruit juice with sparkling water and a catchy name is not a mocktail. It is a fruit juice with a catchy name. […]
