The chefRaidel Iván García is a Cuban-American, native of Arroyo Naranjo, Havana, known on social networks asThe Jamaliche. He has earned the affection of his audience in a short time, with funny videos in which he teaches how to cook.
More than 44 thousand followers onInstagram, from 159 thousand inTikTok, from 142 thousand inFacebook and 8 thousand inYouTube. The audience ofThe Jamaliche grows every day, that's whyCyberCuba He spoke with the popular chef to discover details of his story.
How did you get started in the chef profession?
It was a little funny because you usually start to relate to cooking as a child. I was a jamaliche since I was born. In my neighborhood there was a field with crops and they had a taro that is not edible, but I plucked it, took it home and told my grandmother to cook it for me.
She was very accommodating and told me “no, you can't eat that,” but I was 6 or 7 years old, and I was capricious. I peeled the malanga myself, put it in a saucepan with water and cooked it.
The water was used up and it didn't soften, but since I wanted to eat it, I put it in my mouth. It made me itchy because that was tremendous. That's when my grandmother started teaching me how to cook and I fell in love with that profession.
What did it mean to study at Le Cordon Bleu in the United States?
Le Cordon Bleu was my dream since I was a child and I achieved it. While I was there, I had several discontents about the way the school was seen in the United States, but in the end there are good memories and great friendships like that of theChef Carlos Orta or my teachers.
When did you make the leap to working in social networks?
In 2018 I met with the owner of the pageFacebook Cuban Food and I started making some recipe videos. They were long and became boring. I worked for about three months and decided to stop.
I moved away from social networks to study, learn. A while later my daughter told me “dad, try again” and I started, but on my own page.I made a video, it went viral and I continued working, because it gives a lot of pleasure when people see you and like what you do.
Of course there is always someone who doesn't like it, but those who enjoy it are more. Social media has helped me a lot to regain confidence in myself and in the kitchen.
Jamaliche is a character who... Does he bring out your most authentic side?
The Jamaliche He is a character, he is a more casual, more communicative, more Cuban version of myself. It brings me closer to my people, my town, my roots and of course, to who I truly am.
The character arose by chance, but also from aConstant work because first I was the one on social networksChef Ivan, but that was changing. Now I look more and more like my caricature.
How did you come to achieve dialogue with your followers?
my slogan is“This is how I do it.”, because I think that each chef develops his dish in his own way.
And that is Jamaliche's intention, to bring its dishes to the whole world in a casual, easy way and give people the opportunity to develop their own recipe at home.
How many hours and resources do you dedicate to online content management?
Many people think that working on social networks is simple, but they don't know that it requires resources and time. For example, they don't give you food, you have to buy everything. The work requires all day. Sometimes I feel guilty when I don't have a video to reach people.
Over the last month I've been scattered, trying to relocate to Miami, and family movement has been complicated, but here we are, and the videos haven't stopped coming out.
First you think of the recipe, you study it, you make it, you record the process and then you edit to bring the video to three minutes. Then you must share the content on social networks and pay attention to the reactions of your followers. This is my job andtakes as much time as necessary to reach people in the best way.
What do you think about Cuban Food? Can we save something for future generations or will there only be a survival recipe book?
Cuban food has been readapting, not to resources but to the scarcity of resources. I think that things will be saved, but not in Cuba. Whoever wants to eat Cuban food todayhas to come to Miami.
When I arrived in the United States I was lucky enough to rediscover Cuban culinary culture. Anyone who wants authentic food, like they used to make in homes, unfortunately will not be able to try it in today's Cuba, not in the Cuba imprisoned by the dictatorship. You have to come to Florida to try it.
What do you think?
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