You MIGHT already know Natalia “Boa” Rosario
She's on her third show on the Food Network and is working on her very own cookbook after becoming the first Puerto Rican to win an international competition for the network.
Natalia says "It's hard to be a woman Latina in the kitchen in a male dominated industry."
She’s Chicago based now. And the road here began in her native Puerto Rico, where dad worked for a hotel collection.
“ I used to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, because he was really good friends with the chef. That’s how it all started," she recalls.
The family moved to Mexico 15 years ago, where the now-28 year old fell in love with the food at an early age.
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"The Puerto Rican cuisine and Mexican cuisine are different. Puerto Rican is plantain forward. Mexican is very spicy, corn culture."
She’s working on a cook book right now with that diaspora in mind.
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While she learned about the native cuisine while living in Puerto Rico and Mexico, she HONED her skills working with Chicago’s Micheline star “Alinea group” for 7 years... focusing almost entirely on work to be among the very best.
"You’re never at home. Almost never on the holidays. A relationship with a partner? You’re never there
Two years ago , a tendon transplant on her leg forced her to leave Alinea.
"It’s been the best thing that happened to me bc I repurposed everything I wanted to do!"
She smiles as she explains what might make her happiest, "That’s what I’m aiming for in my book: for a Latin family to come together on Sunday and cook one of my recipes"
She expects to open up her own restaurant some time next year.
