Bold, powerful and with a voracious appetite. These are the adjectives that the influential ranking of The World's Best 50 Restaurants has used to define the Brazilian chef Janaína Torres Rueda, at the head of the restaurant A Casa do Porco (São Paulo), who has just been named the best chef in Latin America.
Also known as Lady Jaguar, a nickname that responds to the characteristics she shares with this feline − "she is patient, observant and waits for the right moment to attack," they add from 50 Best −, this chef who grew up in a humble family in São Paulo, who at the age of 11 was already working to help at home, has managed to position his restaurant among the best on the planet.
Before that, she worked in nightclubs, worked as a sommelier and was an ambassador for a well-known beverage brand, where she met her ex-husband Jefferson Rueda, who cooked at the exclusive Pomodori restaurant. With him she opened her first establishment, Dona Onça, an informal space located in São Paulo that combines cocktails and gastronomy, and is characterized by its affordable prices.
The success of this business led the couple to open another establishment in 2015, A Casa do Porco, which today occupies twelfth place in The World's 50 Best Restaurants and where pork is served in different shapes and textures, without wasting any part of the animal.
It was in that restaurant where Lady Jaguar assumed a more relevant role in the kitchen, and her creativity and knowledge of traditional Brazilian cuisine came to light, which she put into her tasting menu. In 2021, after separating from her husband and agreeing that he would take care of the farm and she would take care of the restaurant, she focused on her career and continued training, starting new studies and traveling throughout Latin America.
This training brought new Brazilian ingredients and techniques to the kitchens of her establishments and also helped her "better understand flavors" and increase her "desire to tell stories through food," they explain from 50 Best. Her culinary career, however, did not take her away from her humble origins – she has always tried to ensure that the menu prices of her proposals are not exorbitant – and she has also dedicated time and energy to various social projects. .
Among other achievements, he reformed the São Paulo school meals program to bring healthy foods to the two million children who live in this city. During the pandemic, in addition, she nourished the homeless and joined with other Brazilian chefs to pressure the government to provide them with vital financial support, an activism that led her to win the 2020 American Express Icon Award.
This will be the second consecutive year that a Brazilian chef is recognized as the best chef in Latin America by The World's Best 50 Restaurants. Last year, it was the turn of Manu Buffara, who was awarded for the work she is carrying out in her Manu de ella restaurant, in Curitiba, with which she seeks to discover Brazilian biodiversity to diners.
