A chef, a product and a world-class acknowledgment

The brand purpose of transcending and making the world a fairer and more sustainable place where people can evolve, grow and go as far as dreams allow it is what drove Grupo Nutresa’s Cordillera brand and chef Juan Camilo Quintero to find in the worldwide haute cuisine an acknowledgment for the Colombian chocolate. Quintero started his gastronomy studies in 2007 at the ‘Gato Dumas’ Institute in Bogotá. Years later he became a teacher there, a role in which, thanks to an agreement established by this university and Cordillera, he discovered this chocolate brand, learned to use it and valued it as a sustainable product and high-quality ingredient for the preparation of diverse recipes.

Seven years later, and with the clarity of wanting to develop his professional career in Europe, Juan Camilo landed in Italy to continue studying. Then, he worked at chef Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Módena, one of the best restaurants in the world, and two years ago he became the executive chef of the Poggio Rosso restaurant at the Borgo San Felice Hotel in Tuscany, where he brings the Cordillera chocolate today for the preparation of his desserts. This restaurant, which got a Michelin star in 2021 and a green Michelin star in 2022 for the excellence of its gastronomy and its environmentally friendly processes, including the use of sustainable ingredients such as the Cordillera chocolate, is an evident scenario of Colombia’s transcendence in the world. This productive dialog between brand and cook also enabled the co-creation of breakthroughs such as the avocado-based green chocolate, which was presented at Identità Golose, one of the most important gastronomy events in Europe. “Cordillera has really well designed practices for the production of cocoa: they support the farmers, fund the production, pay a fair price for the cocoa beans and transform them to produce an excellent chocolate. In my opinion, that is the best way to showcase in Europe the quality and excellence of a product made in Colombia,” concludes Juan Camilo.