María Ofelia Carabajal (37) enjoys gastronomy like few others. She gives away that permanent, natural and honest smile. It is that he enjoys life without laps or doubts. Life is this and we are moving forward, she reasons. Since 2007, she has lived in Río Colorado, where she has established herself as one of the most prestigious benchmarks for healthy and natural cuisine in the region. There is no major gastronomic event in this province that does not have her as a guest.
“I define myself as an unattainable fighting entrepreneur. Unlimited. A cook who is passionate about the nature of flavor and color, ”she tells RÍO NEGRO. And it is a definition that advances the conversation, well boom up. “Getting into this world of gastronomy was a privilege. I started in 1999 at the age of 14 as a kitchen assistant in Buenos Aires, in a vegetarian naturist kitchen. Later I continued as a waitress in various restaurants, a job that allowed me to chat with chefs, pastry chefs, bacheros… and bosses, from whom you learn how to treat and not treat employees. It all adds up”.
In 2007 he came to Rio Colorado on vacation. “I fell in love with the place and never left again,” she explains; while she emphasizes that “it is a town with wonderful people.” I’m interested in the crush on this Rio Negro town. “I came on vacation. My brother lives here and he came to say goodbye because I was going to Spain, where we have a sister living. The peace and quiet got to me and I decided to stay right away. I started working with my brother in the clothing store and at night in the confectionery shop. I made many friends and over time I already formed my family.
In 2018, that is to say 19 years after that beginning almost as a child in the kitchen, María resumed the route of vegetarian cooking. “The country’s economy was hitting rock bottom, as it almost always is, and I had lost my job.” What to do then? “I discovered that when a door closes it is because there is another one that is opening. I do not doubt that it is so. I began to offer vegetarian burgers and burgol breaded wheat”.
It went well, from the start. Clients began to ask her for daily food and to recommend her. She first worked from her house and then rented a small place, until today she arrived at the delicatessen that “is healthier than an apple.” The demand for this type of food led her to investigate and study. “To acquire more awareness about nutrition and healthy living.”
“My main training was to teach natural cooking with the naturist chef Pablo Armenti, a food advisor in the cancer process. I also took classes with the naturist chef Mariano Navarro. Since last year I also started to focus on macrobiotic cooking with Clara Perednik. In conscious and naturist nutrition with Carolina Di Bert. Another reference for me, the holistic doctor Damian Vanssini”.
Being an entrepreneur is not easy anywhere. Over there, in a small town it becomes a little more complicated. But Maria admits that this giant wave of eating better and better has helped her a lot. Because of diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, hypertension… for whatever, “we all want a change in food.” That food is your own medicine is her motto, she repeats like a mantra. “It is beautiful to see how from my kitchen I can help a lot and see improvement results”, she enthuses. “They make you want to not stop. In fact, there are days that I put in 16 hours of non-stop work without coming home. And yet this job continues to give me pleasure.
The entrepreneur’s job is very lonely, we tell him. “Yes, it’s true… but I always take that loneliness as a pause. It has happened to me from feeling without allies in this area but it happened more to me at the beginning than now. There are many of us who are in this tune ”.
We said it came to Río Colorado but not where it came from. “I was born in Santiago del Estero. I grew up in a field, far from the town. We had to get by with everything my family produced and raised. My father Don Leocadio farmed in two orchards; in one that he had in the patio of his house and another near the river. From vegetables to sugar cane. He was an expert in nature. And the most beautiful thing: he lived with seeds for everything ”. “My mother, Doña Ofelia, was dedicated to raising lambs, pigs and chickens. My grandparents harvest the wheat to make their own flour. You see, I’ve been loving natural consumption since I was little. That’s how everything is understood.
Your desires, from now on? Acquire more knowledge and travel, she says first. “Offer more products and incorporate more healthy pastries and drinks,” he adds. “I keep dreaming, projecting and betting on my city. Generating more work would be wonderful. Incorporate more personnel and further strengthen the work team”.
“We are making progress. It was not easy to get here. I am more and more encouraged to train children and adults with my gastronomy. I look back just to remember the path I took and I think that nothing is impossible. Everything comes at the right time.”
“Life is worth living, it is wonderful. I say this because many years ago I struggled with depression, which was very difficult to go through. That was hard, but I managed to get over it. Everything comes with effort. Happiness for me is that, rowing it at full lung. In this sense, gastronomy allowed me to reach various unexpected shores of life”.
Smile. A little tear runs through there, hidden.
signs of identity
“My hallmark is to use each product as natural as possible. Do not use refined or multiprocessed products. Choosing whether they are organic or agroecological”.
Admire Ezequiel Naumiec, the creator of the Trina winery in Río Colorado. To his colleague Juan Carlos Izaguirre, who is also from these payments. To Nicolás Occhipinti, from Vereestar. To Liliana and Pato Chifflet from Las Grutas.
“My attitude towards cooking is so pleasant that I really enjoy it. It is my happiness from the bottom of my heart. Maybe that’s why it’s rare that I get tired.
“The producers in my city try to offer us the best. But there are times like winter or when hail falls, a lot of raw material is scarce. Summer is the best time because fresh and local products are quite a temptation”.
My favorite dish: the salad that has a thousand colors and the vegetable wok. I am a color lover. The texture and the taste. Favorite drink: any fruit smoothie. And flavored water with aromatics.
When my friends come home they paint the pizzas right away. Pies and tacos: easy and rich.