Juan DaniloZegarra Presser
My work starts with Peruvian cooking, its ingredients and the people who grow them.
Cooking is the greatest expression of love I know: in every product, every dish, every bite, there is a story worth telling.
Juan Danilo Zegarra Presser
My story
I learned to cook before I learned to write. I grew up beside my grandmother, and her kitchen was my first school: there I understood that a dish can say what words do not yet know how to say. Brillat-Savarin wrote it two centuries ago: “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.” I lived it before I ever read it.
I believe everything begins with a seed. Without pollination there is no fruit, without fruit there is no cooking, and without cooking there is no memory. That is why I work every product from its origin: the land where it was born, the hands that grew it and the story it carries. As the food historian Massimo Montanari teaches, food is culture when it is produced, when it is prepared and when it is eaten.
Continue reading my story
In Germany I opened a Peruvian Nikkei restaurant with Amazonian accents. Gault & Millau recognised my cooking in Berlin with 13 points, and I worked alongside embassies and consulates to bring Peruvian gastronomy to new audiences. In 2016 I removed dairy, refined sugar and gluten from my menus: I understood that pleasure and wellbeing are not opposites, they are the same craft done well.
That search took me to Fortaleza, Brazil, to train with Dr. Décio Cézar da Silva, a researcher in functional and therapeutic foods at the Universidade Federal do Ceará (PADETEC), holder of a doctorate in human aging (gerontology, the science of aging well), and my mentor to this day. From him I learned that what we eat can shape the way we age. With him I understood that we do not eat with the palate alone: we eat with the nervous system. Aroma and flavour travel as signals to the regions of the brain where emotion and memory live; that is why a dish can return us to childhood in a second. I learned to work with food in its full constellation, its origin, its nutrients, its aroma, its texture and its story, so that eating does not merely nourish: it moves us.
As Global International Business Development Manager at Verstegen Spices & Sauces in Rotterdam, I carried that philosophy into more than twenty markets, leading culinary innovation and concept development for one of Europe's great spice houses. Spices are my specialty: I know what an aroma can do for a dish, for a brand and for a memory.
Today I place that experience at the service of governments, hospitality groups and international brands. I write books, I have founded platforms that unite chefs and nations, and I remain true to the same conviction: gastronomy is the universal language I learned before any other.
Work & recognition
Different kitchens, the same craft.
One&Only, Mauritius
Two consecutive seasons with the luxury resort group and its Peruvian restaurant brand LIMA.
Shangri-La Le Touessrok
A featured Nikkei pop-up kitchen at the Mauritian luxury resort.
The Original Way
The central figure of the Coca-Cola documentary, which reached more than ten million viewers and was shown on both YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.
Apu Productions · ENGault & Millau
Nauta, my Peruvian Nikkei restaurant, was awarded 13 points in the guide.
Gourmet Report · DEThe Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong
Bringing Peruvian and Nikkei cuisine to one of Asia's most prestigious international destinations.
Cantina by Dae Mon, Bar Tausend
Head chef for the menu Dae Mon and Bar Tausend built together. The restaurant was nominated for scene restaurant of the year at the Berliner Meisterköche awards. The Peruvian side of both kitchens was mine: that summer I also took over the Dae Mon kitchen for a few weeks.
Innovation & authorship
A personal research line in fermentation, umami and new textures, applying 3D culinary technology to signature formats developed for brands and private clients. The line remains open to this day.
Author
Two books, one sea.
It began on the Peruvian shore. A first book, published with Suhrkamp, carried Peruvian ceviche to German tables. The next follows the two currents further out, to where Japan meets Peru.
Ceviche · Das Kochbuch
Peruanisch magisch.
My first book, devoted to ceviche and the cold Peruvian sea that yields some of the finest fish in the world. Published in Germany by Insel Verlag, part of the Suhrkamp publishing house, it carried the magic of Peru's national dish to a new audience: a chef from Lima, with one of the great German literary houses behind him.
Author profile at Suhrkamp →
Dos Corrientes
Where the Kuroshio meets the Humboldt · Nikkei cuisine · in the making
The sequel follows the story out to sea. In 1899 a Japanese ship reached Callao, and where Japan's warm Kuroshio current meets Peru's cold Humboldt, Nikkei cuisine was born. Dos Corrientes traces that current from a migrant's suitcase to the finest tables on earth. The first book spoke of our own shore; this one, of what happened when another shore reached it.
Consulting & advisory practice
Cooking, research and craft.
A private practice for governments, hospitality groups and international food and beverage brands, translating culinary heritage into cultural value, innovation and shared human experience.
Gastrodiplomacy strategy
I develop gastrodiplomacy proposals for governments and institutions, drawing on my work with embassies and consulates. These bring Peruvian cooking to new audiences and give culinary heritage a place in dialogue between countries.
Concept & brand development
I develop restaurant concepts, menus and dining experiences for hotels and brands. The ingredient and its story guide the work, from culinary identity and positioning to the way dishes are presented and served.
Product innovation & R&D
I research fermentation, umami and new textures to develop food and beverage products. Spices are my particular focus, alongside sous vide and experimental mixology, with attention to how aroma, flavour and texture work together.
Executive culinary education
I design training programmes, masterclasses and curricula for kitchen teams and food and beverage managers. Sessions address technique, creativity and cost control, connecting culinary knowledge with the practical demands of running a kitchen each day.
Vision
A world in which gastronomy is recognised as a strategic instrument of identity, dialogue and progress.
Key figures
Institutional leadership
One system, one table.
Through Zegarra-MV Zrt. I have created a system that seats the entire ecosystem of the culinary arts at one table, as equals: chefs, producers, artisans, institutions and governments.
CEO & Co-Founder · Zegarra-MV Zrt., the institutional home of the system
International Culinary Arts Association
Defines the standards of the discipline.
World Culinary Festival
The point of convergence: the event that brings chefs and nations onto one stage.
FLAME Platform
The digital platform where the stories of the craft are filmed, preserved and shared with the world. It holds the memory of the system.
Three pillars, one table.
Contact
Everything begins with a seed.
I work with governments and institutions, hospitality groups and international food and beverage brands. Every commission begins with a product and the hands that grew it. Available for private projects.
Consulting & advisory