{"id":25891,"date":"2023-05-25T12:31:06","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T16:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=25891"},"modified":"2023-05-25T15:27:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T19:27:21","slug":"furman-chef-brings-the-world-to-the-dining-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-chef-brings-the-world-to-the-dining-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman chef brings the world to the Dining Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Gustavo Sanchez-Salazar reports to work as the executive chef of Furman University, there\u2019s one thing he looks forward to the most \u2013 introducing new cultures to the student body.<\/p>\n

Born in Lima, Peru, Sanchez-Salazar got his start in the kitchen at a very young age. Since he was about 8 years old, he was involved in his mother\u2019s baking business, which was so busy that his grandmother handled most of the cooking responsibilities at home. Many nights Sanchez-Salazar helped her in the kitchen, where he learned the basics of cooking.<\/p>\n

Now more than two years into his role as executive chef, he\u2019s proud to bring his Peruvian roots to life in the Dining Hall. He\u2019s learning a thing or two himself about other cultures, too.<\/p>\n

Sanchez-Salazar got his start cooking professionally after attending the International Culinary Center in New York City, where he specialized in French techniques.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrench cuisine is the mother of cooking techniques,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are like artists. Cooking is in your heart. It\u2019s your flavors; it\u2019s your own. You just learn the techniques and use those as the foundation of nearly everything you make.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Sanchez-Salazar cuts green onions in the kitchen of the Dining Hall.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sanchez-Salazar does, in fact, make almost everything. From various chef positions in Miami, Florida, he learned a lot about food from Cuba, Colombia and Mexico \u2013 cultures that are increasingly making up the demographic of south Florida. But from chef positions at Royal Caribbean, Seminole Hard Rock Cafe and Hotel, and Bon Appetit Management Company, which manages dining halls at numerous higher education institutions throughout the country, he\u2019s made everything from Chinese to Indian to Cambodian cuisines.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Gustavo Sanchez-Salazar with prepared vegetables<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of students here who have never tried the things I\u2019ve introduced to them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe created a new station (in the dining hall) called Near and Far, where we serve dishes from different countries. It\u2019s become the most popular station. It\u2019s a great experience \u2013 it\u2019s an adventure all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tables turned last month, though, when 40 students brought Sanchez-Salazar recipes from their home countries for him and his team to prepare for the 15th annual Furman International Student Association\u2019s Food Fest. Even for a seasoned chef, new recipes and ingredients representing 17 different countries presented him with a fun challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a few recipes from China, a few from Africa, a few from Peru,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of them was from Ghana \u2013 a rice made with black-eyed peas and a root vegetable that was hard to come by. It was delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Sanchez-Salazar\u2019s success today, it wasn\u2019t without challenges. Peruvian culture in the 1980s was such that women held the household roles, including cooking. It was frowned upon for a man to attend culinary school, so Sanchez-Salazar was discouraged from cooking professionally and initially earned a degree in business administration. He worked as a medical sales manager for more than a decade. It wasn\u2019t until political instability in the 1990s drove Sanchez-Salazar and his sister out the country and to the United States that he finally was able to pursue cooking as his career.<\/p>\n

In it, and at Furman, he\u2019s found his home away from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the best teams I\u2019ve had in my 25-year career,\u201d said Sanchez-Salazar. \u201cI initially came to Furman to give support for two weeks, but I was lucky that at the time there was an opening for a full-time position. I feel like this team is a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of work, Sanchez-Salazar enjoys the small-town feel of Greenville. He and his girlfriend have three dogs and enjoy mountain biking and the change of seasons \u2013 a stark difference from the Florida weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel very grateful to be here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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When Gustavo Sanchez-Salazar reports to work as the executive chef of Furman University, there\u2019s one thing he looks forward to the most \u2013 introducing new cultures to the student body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":25892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}