Meet Legendary Chef Maricel Presilla: From Cuba to Overcoming Hurricane Sandy

Recently, the Culinary Institute of America announced that, for the first time since 1946 when the CIA opened, female students outnumber male students. As a result, women-owned food businesses are on the rise. But the media and the newsworthy conferences and award programs need to play some serious catch up, neutralizing the disparity in male-female coverage and accolade. These ‘Legendary Chef’ series will highlight the personalities and accomplishments made by male and female chefs doing amazing things in the food and hospitality industry throughout the Americas, celebrating the legends that you might not otherwise know about. Today we have, chef and culinary historian Maricel Presilla.

This once-refugee cum American citizen, Chef Maricel Presilla has been named Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (2012) by James Beard Foundation, and was inducted into the Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in 2015 as chef/owner of Hoboken restaurants Cucharamama and Zafra. | Photo: Amy McKeever at Eater

Cuban by birth, New Jersey native by choice, chef, author, and Latin American culinary historian Maricel Presilla has had a fascinating and visible career in food. This once-refugee cum American citizen has been named Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (2012) by James Beard Foundation, and was inducted into the Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in 2015 as chef/owner of Hoboken restaurants Cucharamama and Zafra.

Presilla has traveled extensively throughout the Americas to find both inspiration and ingredient for her menus and books, but for all of the accolades, Presilla’s most treasured honor is being the first Latin American woman asked to cook at the White House during the first annual Fiesta Latina (2009), a salute to Latin American culture and music.