Since she took Latin America's Best Female Chef award in 2016, Danish chef Kamilla Seidler has notched up a string of successes in the course of a prolific trajectory culminating in her own restaurant Lola, in Copenhagen, where she focuses on solidarity and team work. Making a stand for humility, the chef's talk at Féminas took a look back at a packed career, marked by solidarity and respect for a profession she believes must make changes, and sooner rather than later, to issues relating to equality, solidarity, and conditions of employment.

She trained in some of the world's leading kitchens such as Mugaritz, Paustian or Geist, but it was her experiences in Bolivia that really made their mark on her profession, and on her life. There she headed up Gustu, a school-restaurant which emerged to improve the opportunities and standards of living of a vulnerable population and promote local produce, and this taught her the most valuable lessons in her whole life. “You have to be humble to comprehend a type of cuisine other than your own, and change your philosophy in the kitchen, when you leave the world of perfection behind and arrive in a developing country. There you learn to cook with whatever you have to hand, and to show respect for ingredients", explained Kamilla, who also makes a stand for humility at the restaurant by attaching maximum importance to her crew.

“In La Paz I was more of a psychologist than a chef", she said, "because everything is done as a team in the kitchen; we should also be talking about gender equality, because I had no female references when I started out. This makes events such as Féminas extremely useful. We should also be talking about fair employment, because the people working with me must have the chance of a balance between their professional and personal lives. Things have to change gradually, with improvements to employment and social conditions".

Intercultural cuisine, based on respect for produce

This inclusive concept has made Kamilla's cooking so intuitive and so intercultural. At her Lola restaurant, the gastronomic fare combines the taste of Latin America, India and Southwest Asia. “Our cuisine is simple food which makes customers happy, and it is also extremely sustainable in both the human aspect and in relation to product", she explains.

At Féminas she came up with two rapid, easy and extremely tasty recipes. First up, tomatoes impregnated in a poori with lentils, sesame seeds, curry and turmeric, garnished with mint and parsley. This original dish was followed up by white asparagus macerated in a green chilli fermentate, along with slivers of yucca and crushed dried fruits.

Photography by Damian Arienza.