03/13/2021 11:26 AM
Clarín.com
Gourmet
Updated 03/13/2021 1:32 PM
The coronavirus pandemic and MasterChef Celebrity changed the life of Germán Martitegui.
The restaurant that gave it worldwide prestige,
Tegui
, had to close its doors during the strict quarantine of 2020 and never opened them again.
Although the place continues to operate with a delivery service and a menu adapted to that format, it is far from being the proposal that established it as one of the benchmarks of Latin American gastronomy.
At the same time,
he became a television star
.
The two consecutive editions of the Telefe reality show where he participates as a jury gave him a popularity that widely transcended the world of cooking.
In this context, Martitegui made a drastic decision that surprised many of his followers: he
renounced his participation in the 50 Best international ranking
,
one of the most prestigious in the world
.
This was announced on his social networks this Friday: "Friends and colleagues. I share with you my decision to resign from being a jury of The World's 50 Best Restaurants and my desire not to be on your lists anymore."
Germán Martitegui in 2017, when his restaurant Tegui was voted the best in Argentina.
The post was accompanied by the letter in English with which he formally resigned and where he explained his reasons.
In reference to his role as a jury of the 50 Best, he considered: "
We must choose the best restaurants in the world, but we had to do it in a year in which restaurants have been closed
and neither I nor anyone else could travel. This does not make sense. for me and that was what motivated my decision. "
"My own restaurant has been closed for most of this time, so it certainly doesn't qualify for any list, and I don't even know if it will survive the pandemic.
My priorities now are clearly different,
" he continued.
Despite having been closed, in 2020 Tegui (located in the Palermo neighborhood) had been ranked No. 16 of the best restaurants in Latin America.
Another Argentine restaurant, the Don Julio grill, ranks first, despite the fact that for much of the past year it had to function as a butcher shop, selling cuts of meat rather than entertaining guests.
The Tegui restaurant, by Germán Martitegui, now works only in delivery mode.
What are the 50 Best and why did Martitegui resign?
The World's 50 Best Restaurants
is an annual contest created in 2002 by the British magazine Restaurant, which distinguishes the best of world cuisine.
It has a regional edition called
Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants
, where
in recent years various Argentine restaurants and chefs have been distinguished
.
Many of the latter, in
addition to being awarded, participate as juries
.
Such was the case of Martitegui, who, as he explained, did not feel comfortable with the role.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by German Martitegui (@germanmartitegui)
"I have no doubt that the list has helped put our beloved Latin American cuisine on the map and draw attention to the work of colleagues that I admire and love. And the best thing it has accomplished has been to introduce us to each other, meeting every year to celebrate, and that camaraderie was generated by those shared experiences, "he clarified in his post.
"But personally,
for some years now, I have not been happy with the 50 Best system, finding it continually stressful
and influencing my professional creativity to the point of not knowing if I am doing things because I really want to or because they keep my place on the list." he declared.
"I feel like that creates
suspicion and competition between chefs that I don't like
and that has grown over time. Sorting widely different restaurant positions on a list seems to me more and more unjustifiable."
Aware that
his statements imply a questioning of an organization of which hundreds of colleagues are part
, he warned: "To be clear, I am not taking a critical stance, I have been part of this system and have spent hundreds of hours lobbying for myself. restaurant, inviting so-called 'secret' judges and I have campaigned for awards in Buenos Aires. "
In the comments of his post on Instagram,
several well-known Argentine chefs showed signs of support
for his decision, such as Donato De Santis -his colleague at MasterChef Celebrity-, Fernando Trocca and Lele Cristóbal.
EC