Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathi Toro.
A native Colombian, Nathi currently resides in Barcelona. She began her culinary journey while in college but her passion for food goes far back to her early childhood years; watching both her mother and grandmother cook in their kitchen. She has a B.S. in Biology and Psychology.
She has vast knowledge in nutrition from Harvard and Stanford University. Nathi has worked with chefs all around the world such as celebrity chef Chloe Coscarelli, Matthew Kenney, Toni Rodriguez and Final Table contestant Benjamin Bensoussan. Nathi has been featured in Yahoo Mujer, Fucsia, Foodable TV and Bogota Wine & Food Festival.
Her love for culinary arts, anthropology, human behavior, and photography can be credited to her travels to different countries and exposure to different cultures, as well as her mother’s cooking that allowed her to open her mind and turned a new leaf in 2011 when she became plant-based in hopes of transforming her illness through food. Nathi has also open various health-conscious concepts across America; co-founder of a cold-pressed company: Cold Pressed Raw, in Miami and Fresh and Easy in Colombia. Her latest culinary venture Selva– a lifestyle company that involves health-oriented gastronomical experiences to wellness retreats; focusing on redefining health through food, finding sustainable solutions for restaurants and empowering other female chefs in the industry. Nathi’s culinary education as a plant-based chef comes from the Matthew Kenney Academy. Previously, she studied culinary nutrition and gastronomy in her home country Colombia.
When creating new recipes, curating culinary events or dinners; Nathi spends quality hours in her kitchen: sleeves rolled up, music playing, testing and tasting new and exciting ingredients. Nathi’s passion for finding the best ingredients sourced locally and experimenting with them translates into every dish she creates. She redefines classic flavors into something unique yet authentic bringing memories of the past or creating new ones.
When she is not cooking, creating culinary experiences, teaching or working as a private chef; she enjoys racing in triathlons, traveling and reading a good book! She is currently studying Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all! When I decided to drop off pursuing my career in the medical field and focus on food, it was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made back then. I had been diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis; an autoimmune disease that almost took everything from me. After the diagnosis, I knew there had to be something to be done that didn’t rely on medicine. I knew I wasn’t taking care of myself in the best way possible so I decided to study nutrition and start taking my health into my own hands. Once my health was stable and my cancer is gone, I figured I couldn’t keep the knowledge to myself and decided to start teaching people how to eat & cook healthier. I opened my first restaurant in Colombia; yet, the regular consumer wasn’t ready for a 100% plant-based restaurant so we had to adapt our approach and open something more flexitarian and inclusive. It will be five years this coming December and we have had to open and close in different locations until we finally found our niche. Then, I moved back to Miami in 2015 and opened another culinary venture with my business partner and friend Tatiana Peisach: Cold Pressed Raw; it was one of the first juiceries in Miami and we put everything to create the best juices and the best, wholesome menu. We sourced everything organic and open our doors in Brickell. We faced many struggles and the biggest one appeared once companies like WholeFoods opened in Downtown Miami; offering cheaper options and we had to make the hard decision of closing CPR 2 years later.
Tell us about your company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
Right now, I have two companies that complement each other. Nathi Toro, a gastronomical consulting company focused on the hospitality industry; providing hotels, restaurants, yacht chefs and private chefs training, menu development and finding sustainable solutions while empowering other female chefs in the industry.
Selva– a lifestyle company that focuses on curated gastronomical experiences to wellness retreats; focused on redefining health through food, offering classes and nutritional advice to individuals and companies.
My philosophy and mission is to encourage companies to introduce more plant-based options to their customers. I believe in the healing power of food. I believe that making small changes in your everyday life and adapting new rituals would be more sustainable for the world around us and future generations.
I’m proud that despite the rollercoasters of my previous endeavors, I have been able to continue to be passionate about what I do; I think it takes a lot of courage and determination to continue to push for vegetable-forward options in the restaurant world; I am proud to be Latina and plant-based. I’m proud to be able to work with chefs from all over the world that are also in the search of new ideas and are open-minded to the idea of adding more plant-based options to their menus. I’m proud that my company has been able to expand from Latin America to the United States, Europe and Africa and it’s connecting more and more female chefs to empower them and create successful networks and businesses.
My biggest advantage is that I’m able to adapt to any environment. Having brought up in Colombia; moved to the US at a young age and built my career from nothing has made me a strong entrepreneur. The setbacks I’ve had are the biggest lessons I’ve learned and allowed me to transform my vision and my approach to cooking as well.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
There are so many great moments in my career but if I have to pick one it will be when I worked with celebrity and friend chef Chloe Coscarelli. She is the sweetest and most dedicated person I’ve ever met. Working alongside her made me realize how much more we can do in the world by educating people about plant-based foods and how to create more collaborations over the competition in our overly competitive culinary world.
My second greatest moment has been moving to Europe and starting again has made me regain strength and confidence in what I’m doing. I know the journey will continue and I can’t wait to continue traveling, cooking, teaching and eating!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nathitoro.com
- Email: hola@nathitoro.com
- Instagram: chefnathitoro
Suggest a story: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
