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MANILA, Philippines - Who is the Brazilian chef who created a whole new culinary  movement around uniquely Brazilian ingredients, techniques, and traditions with his DOM restaurant?

Of mixed English and Middle Eastern parentage, he grew up in a modest household in Sao Paulo.  When he was growing up, his parents would take the family off on trips to the  jungle, which gave him exposure to available ingredients.

He began his career when he was 19 in Belgium at the Ecole Hoteliere de Namur.  In France, he worked at Jean Pierre Bruneau’s Michelin three-star restaurant and with chef Bernard Loiseau’s Hotel de la Cote D’Cor.  He later left for new challenges in the kitchens of Montpellier and Milan.

In 1994, he returned to Sao Paulo, where his performance in several establishments around the city attracted the attention of journalists and gourmands. 

In 1999, he opened DOM restaurant, which was recently ranked second in Latin America and sixth in the “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list by San Pellegrino and Acqua Parma.

DOM has built its unique style of cuisine on the discovery and exploration of Brazilian ingredients combined with a commitment to finding sustainable solutions to sourcing them to the benefit of the Amazon and its people.

For his restaurant, he refuses to import ingredients such as caviar, truffles, foie gras, staples in many high end restaurant kitchens, into Brazil and instead scours the Amazon for indigenous produce to fuse with classical techniques in his cooking.  He then works with the Amazon’s native communities and small scale producers to extend the availability to these products around Brazil.

At DOM he would take classic French dishes like mille feuille, sung sheets of local manioc rather than pastry;  make aligot, a traditional French dish of cheese and creamed potatoes using Brazilian cheese; and make fettuccine from Brazilian heart of palm.

In 2012, he invested in another project, the opening of Mercandinho Dalva e Dito next to the restaurant of the same name,  in the Jardins neighborhood of Sao Paulo.  This small market offers breads, jams, cachacas, preserves, cheeses, all the products of the brand Retratos de Gosto, while its rotisserrie serves the same Brazilian cheeses prepared at Dalva e Dito in a takeaway.

With his international prestige, he often participates in events in several countries, and is constantly being invited to give lectures in major gastronomic events worldwide like the Alimentaria and Madrid Fusion in Spain, Salone de Gusto in Italy, and The Flemish Primitives in Belgium.

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Last week’s question: Who is the German-born cutting-edge lighting designer who is considered the most prolific, creating 150 lights and lighting systems including the Birds collection and the graceful paper Mamo Nuches?

Answer: Ingo Maurer

Winner: James Angelo Tino of Pasig City