{"id":4723,"date":"2022-09-02T05:20:27","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T03:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/?p=4723"},"modified":"2022-09-02T05:20:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T03:20:36","slug":"chef-roberto-richa-panama-is-a-fusion-of-races-and-flavors-from-all-over-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/2022\/09\/02\/chef-roberto-richa-panama-is-a-fusion-of-races-and-flavors-from-all-over-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef Roberto Richa: “Panama is a fusion of races and flavors from all over the world”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gastronomy for Chef Roberto Richa and owner of 5inco\nrestaurant began as a child, although at the age of 17 he really began to cook\ndoing internships working for different restaurants and Chefs in Panama. This\nprofessional path was mixed with different courses that he took, among them, at\nElena Hernandez’s Culinary Academy of Panama. Seeing that in Panama being a\nchef was considered more of a “hobby” than a professional career, he\ndecides to continue his journey in Argentina where opportunities arise that\nallow him to stay and develop his talent. Upon returning to Panama, he begins\nto be part of what he called the “new culinary school” where there is\na great camaraderie among Chefs and selfless support to develop what is today\none of the most innovative industries in Panama: gastronomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How are Lebanese and Spanish influenced culinary\ndishes different from Panamanian ones?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChefs create dishes influenced by others, the\ndifference is that in my case the influence is marked a little more by the\nfamily part. Panama itself is already a fusion of races and flavors from around\nthe world. An example is the Dim Sum that was for tea time, but Panamanians adapted\nas a breakfast, and it has a different flavor from others, thanks to the\nCantonese culture that came to Panama and merged with the local flavors. The\nfact that in our country there are cultures such as the Afro-descendant, the\nAsian, the European migrants who were already here in Panama, the Lebanese\nemigrants, all this means that one can adapt it and it becomes easier to create\nnew saucers. For example, I lived in Argentina for 10 years and I adapt food\nplates to that style of cooking there, I was Chef at the Brazilian Embassy and\nI adapted things from that country. I ended up absorbing everything I learned\nand started to use when creating dishes as a daily routine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How has flavors from Panama\u2019s inside country influenced the\ndishes you now prepare?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, one of the biggest influences I have is Nance’s\nwood-smoke, that has influenced other dishes. An example is the carbonara creole\nthat we are making, where we try to use backyard eggs from a hen that is well\nfed, helping to make the yolk much more orange. We are also using pork that was\nsmoked with nance firewood that gives it a much more smoky character than the\ntraditional Italian version, ground cheese on the top, and also some coriander when\npreparating. All these things are product of the influence of the interior of\nPanama in one way or another, in the end one tries to represent and be\ninspire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is the legacy you want to leave in\nPanamanian gastronomy and how everything you are doing helps make the\nexperience of Panama more rewarding for local and foreign visitors?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a long way to go for that, but I think we\nare putting it together and building it. The idea is that people know who we\nare, what the concept and style are, as well as constantly reinventing\nourselves. The legacy is not only mine, it is that of all the Chefs in Panama\ntoday, in some way or another, they are building Panamanian gastronomy, which\ndoes not necessarily have to be pigeon peas, chorizo \u200b\u200btable\u00f1o, tamale,\ntortillas, cilantro. Panamanian gastronomy is precisely a fusion of flavors,\nand today there are a lot of restaurants and colleagues doing excellent work.\nAlways adding and creating products and experiences. And the latter is why we\nwork daily, creating experiences that allow each person to leave a legacy,\nbecause in the end if you have a good experience you will remember that one way\nor the other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What are your favorite Panamanian dishes, some\nthat are not related to your recipes and the ones that you like the most from\nyour menu?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy favorite Panamanian dishes are part of experiences\nthat I have had, the almojabana fascinates me, wherever I see it I ask for it.\nAnother dish that I love is Saus,\nwhich coincidentally comes from the Afro-descendant culture, tamales is another\none that I really like. Rice with purple pigeon peas is another dish that\nfascinates me. You don’t see something that I love so much anymore, although\nit’s not a dish, it’s fruits, jobo and tamarind, the latter because it’s a\nspectacular dessert and I particularly love it when they use it in the\nrestaurant’s cocktail bar and well… I’m a fan of jobo’s ice cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The dishes that I like the most, apart from the\nPanamanians, is the Lebanese Tabbule that my mother used to make, and that I\nnow make, but that is one of my favorite dishes that she learned to make not\nbeing Lebanese because that family heritage comes from my dad’s side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From our restaurant I love shredded meat (ropa vieja) croquettes\non the menu, green ceviche, screwed pork rinds, a mixture of pork with spices,\nI think all are my favorite since were designed to be put on the menu. However,\nI enjoy more the faces of diners when they try a dish, or you are walking down\nthe street and a person recognizes you and says \u201cI was fascinated by what I\nate, I loved your restaurant\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos courtesy: Chef Roberto Richa\/ 5inco\nRestaurante.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gastronomy for Chef Roberto Richa and owner of 5inco restaurant began as a child, although at the age of 17 he really began to cook doing internships working for different restaurants and Chefs in Panama. This professional path was mixed with different courses that he took, among them, at Elena Hernandez’s Culinary Academy of Panama. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4730,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4723\/revisions\/4730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}