I have three children and currently live on the island of Florianópolis SC Brazil.
I wake up early to see the sunrise, to meditate, and to thank before I go to work.
Living by the ocean is one of the gifts the universe has given me.
I am the third generation of cooks in my family.
I cook professionally since I was 16 years old, my first job was in a restaurant that served Mediterranean food, and it was wonderful, I was enchanted by the colors, the smells, the flavors...
My relationship with food started long before when I was a child on my grandparents' farm...
At that time I did not understand how the silent and seemingly lifeless land could turn small seeds into things as big and delicious as watermelons, pumpkins, it was magical!
My grandfather would harvest and take everything straight from the plantation to my grandmother to cook and everyone respected her a lot.
After I grew up and matured I understood that everyone respected her for being the oldest and wisest but when I was a child I thought she was an authority because she was the only one who could play with fire, and with knives without getting hurt.
She could do everything that was forbidden for me and the other children in the family.
My grandmother would light the wood stove, put the pots on the fire, and start cutting out all those colorful gifts that came from the earth, they were wonderful smells!
One day, when my mother left and the other children were playing in the yard, she put me a chair near the stove, told me to go up, handed me a huge iron spoon, and said:
– Stir the soup, I need help!
I couldn't believe it, I was there by the fire in the forbidden place doing something really important, making the magic happen with my own hands! I've never felt so powerful before!
Soon she took me out of the chair, called everyone to lunch, my mother arrived and my grandfather said that the food was great.
Then my grandmother replied:
– It was Nayhara who did it!
I asked scared:
– I made?
She answered:
– Yes you did dear
And my grandfather said:
– You cook very well, Nay!
And everyone laughed...
But I truly believed in my grandfather and from that moment on, I steadied my two feet in the kitchen and never left.
Today, after years of working, studying, and learning from excellent teachers, I want to share recipes and a new way of feeling to relate to food.
I wholeheartedly wish that the food of each human being is an instrument of connection with this sacred land that nourishes and sustains us.
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