Corporate Chef, Performance Foodservice - Metro NY
Born and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, Chef Andrea Maldonado’s culinary roots run as deep as the river in Ecuador where, many years ago, her grandmother retrieved a prized possession, shortly before leaving her homeland for good, to make the journey to America.
“When she came over, there wasn’t much you could bring with you, right?” Maldonado explained. “So, my grandmother went to the river, and she brought back a stone. The stone is maybe six inches across, and this is what she uses as a mortar and pestle. She uses it still, today.”
The chef’s grandmother — a powerful inspiration — is 102 years old.
“Between my sister and I, and it’s not really a joke,” she said laughing, “but I always tell her, the rock is going to go to me [because I’m the one who cooks]. And my grandmother knows that, and she’s like — don’t worry, I’m going to pass it down to you. So, that’s definitely one of those pieces that connects you to home.”
The Real Deal
For Maldonado, a Performance Foodservice corporate chef based out of Metro New York, the vibrant influences of her family history and her own childhood experiences are never far from her mind, or her cooking. Her mother accompanied her grandmother from Ecuador and her father is Puerto Rican.
“Spanish is actually my first language,” she said, “so in our household, we didn’t speak any English because no one knew it.” But they did cook, almost exclusively in the traditional style. “To this day, my mother will purchase her chicken from a live market. She’ll tell them what she wants, pick out her birds, and that’s what she brings home. I grew up going to the live markets, which was wild; those are some of my earliest memories.
“But, she felt like that was the closest she could get to eating the way she used to eat in Ecuador, where you could go into the yard, pick a chicken, and that was dinner, right? So, it’s very rustic. I think it’s incredible she still does that.”
This process helped the chef learn to appreciate using the entire bird. “I learned how to prepare it at a young age, and that’s where a lot of my love for food was born.”
Chef in Training
“In our family, if you were old enough to stand up, you were old enough to help with the cooking,” the chef explained. “You were up at 6 a.m., and it was not pancakes and waffles,” she continued, laughing. “It was making peanut sauce for the llapingachos or mashing plantains for our gandules con bolitas. So, that’s how I spent my Saturday and Sunday mornings. Now, I can truly appreciate the beauty of all of it. I ended up being the one who picked it up and transcribed all the recipes.”
Those lessons are being passed down to her own daughter, although maybe not so early in the morning. “It's very valuable, and with that book, I've been teaching my daughter all of these recipes as well. And then adding my own kind of modern tweaks.”
As far as Puerto Rican food, Chef Maldonado’s father didn’t really cook, so she learned that cuisine from working in restaurants, from her friends, and their families. “And now, I’m actually married to someone who is Puerto Rican, so I’ve picked up some traditional things from his family as well, and we keep those going.”
Cultural Pride
The chef described going to school as a young child, in an environment with few fellow students of Hispanic heritage. “I didn’t really see a lot of my own representation, so it’s absolutely important to me to share my culture through food and celebrate people who have made strides in our community.
“One of the most inspirational things for me as a chef at Performance is to walk into a restaurant that’s Hispanic or Latin-owned and talk about food. We can talk about creating some fusion dishes or how, you know, they love a particular traditional plate in my culture. Folks want to share what they’re doing because they are proud. They love what they do. They want everyone to come in and say, wow, this is the best rice and beans or the best chuleta frita I’ve ever had.
“When I go out and show Contigo®, or I create dishes for our Instagram page, I think about the restaurant operators and how they’re so much like my mother and grandmother — super passionate about the items they make.
“For many people, that is your history. Your culture is embedded in that food, and it matters so much. You may not be making it with a rock from the river anymore,” the chef said, smiling, “but your ancestry is present with every bite.”
