Taste your way through the life of a chef
A collage of newspaper and magazine clippings featuring my father. In the front and center of the collage is a newspaper clipping with a black-and-white photograph in which the Hurtado family stands together with community members and smiles on the opening day of their restaurant.
About this event
What do blackened duck breast with potato-chorizo hash, angel hair pasta with plum tomato sauce, and chocolate pots de crème have in common? Though there is no distinct culinary tradition that links these dishes together in an obvious way, each dish synthesizes significant places, people, and moments from across my father’s culinary journey. Watch him cook, dine with him, listen to his stories, and reflect on what is meant by “hospitality work”.
When we dine out, we often think little about the people curating our dining experiences, whose lives and passions are commodified into what we call hospitality work. In Chef’s Fable, guests will meet my father and career chef, Sergio Hurtado, via a menu imbued with the places and people that have inspired his life’s love of cooking. Guests will immerse themselves in a storied cooking demonstration and conversational dinner party hosted by my dad and I.
About the Student
Olivia Hurtado is a student in Columbia University’s Oral History Master of Arts program currently interested in using oral history to explore the hospitality industry and foodservice work. She was raised in New Jersey and in 2022 earned a B.A in Philosophy and Spanish from the University of Michigan.