check out an interview with the best female chef in AL

In itself, the look of chef Janaína Torres Rueda would already explain the nickname Dona Onça that has been with her for some years. But, there is much more of the hunting feline typical of the Brazilian forests in the cook who was elected the best chef in Latin America by 50 Best in 2023 and is in charge of the best restaurant in Brazil, according to the same rating, revealed on November 28th in Rio de Janeiro.

Just like the giant feline, Janaína works with strength and strategy to reach her goals. From a girl from a poor family in the center of São Paulo to the chef in charge of the most awarded restaurant in Brazil, to the leader of socio/educational projects, the cook shows that strength, talent and determination are the key to achieving goals.

In an interview with Good Gourmet On the morning before the Latam 50Best 2023 awards at Copacabana Palace, Janaína talked about the process of separation from chef Jefferson Rueda, with whom she still maintains a partnership at A Casa do Porco, talked about the maternal influences in her story and revealed the project of his new restaurant, which should open its doors in 2025. Check it out!

Janaína, women are still a minority when we talk about leadership positions and this also happens in haute cuisine kitchens. What is it like for you to occupy this role of leader and how do you deal with the challenges of this position?

I believe you are born with this leadership spirit. Leading, for me, has always been natural. But within leadership itself you learn that there are some moments when you need to step back because leadership requires some strategies, including positioning. Therefore, sometimes, we retreat from some attitude, action, to adopt a better strategy later on.

You and chef Jefferson Rueda have been married for more than two decades. In 2022, they made their separation official, but they continue in business together, including with you in charge of the kitchen at A Casa do Porco. How has that been for you??

After we made our separation official, I started to see machismo, which I hadn’t seen until then. I still hear things like: she’s not the cook, her ex is the genius. When, in fact, the two of us complemented each other and still complement each other.

In 2018, Jefferson started to move away from the restaurant and I started to take over the kitchen. A kitchen that until then was unknown to me, because I wasn’t very active in fine dining. But I made myself learn. It was a challenge for me to enter this cuisine in 2018. But I created the last five menus at A Casa do Porco practically alone. And these are menus where we have won countless awards. And this seems like people forgot, or didn’t see or didn’t want to see.

Porco’s last menu is my creation, it was when I actually entered the Casa do Porco Kitchen and buried myself there. But when we publicize the separation, sexist opinions and manifestations happen. And not just men. In fact, I was very welcomed by the Latino male chefs. But I heard a lot of media buzz more old school Brazilian and women, which moved me a little.

You and Jefferson are now in new relationships, but you maintain your partnership and even receive awards together. What was the decision like to continue together in business even though you were separated in your private life?

I believe that you don’t need to fake happiness in the name of a business, a prize. Our work continues to be recognized, it continues to win awards even though we are no longer together as a couple. Because A Casa do Porco has nothing to do with a personal separation. And this is important for other women who are in unhappy relationships and are afraid to change because of business. What I can say is that it is possible. Are you going to pass over some rocks? Go. There will be people judging you, for sure. But I hope that other women who do the same thing as me won’t be judged as much as I was.

When you talk about being judged, what kind of situation are you referring to?

Things happen that still shock me. Yesterday here at the Copacabana Palace pool, for example, someone asked me if it was true that I didn’t let Jefferson work at Casa do Porco. Imagine? I replied that he doesn’t go to Casa do Porco that often because he’s not 100% ready for it yet. He still lives on the farm and rarely goes to São Paulo. This kind of situation is still shocking to me. People seem to want to put women in a position of either victim or vixen. But I don’t like either of those two places.

Janaína, today you have projects beyond A Casa do Porco, what are you preparing for the future?

I’ve had a project for a restaurant of my own for a long time. It just hasn’t gotten off the ground yet because I had to take on A Casa do Porco and I couldn’t do my new project. I’m waiting for Jefferson to come back so I can leave and dedicate myself to this project, which should be ready in 2025. In 2024, I’ll continue at Casa do Porco and in 2025 it will be the turn of my new project, which has been shelved for about five years, but I will soon make it happen.

And what will this new restaurant be like?

It will be in São Paulo, in a property close to A Casa do Porco. My project is and always will be to talk about Brazilian cuisine, it is always my perspective on my country. But now it will be my experiences. People don’t know my story. Back then, I didn’t tell my story, people don’t know who my grandparents were, my ancestry hasn’t been told yet and this restaurant of mine will be about that, my ancestry.

Would you tell us a little about this ancestry now?

My mother passed away during the pandemic. My grandmother was a single mother and so was my mother and, like me, she started working very early. She worked in public relations for artists, was director of fan clubs. She worked with Antônio Marcos, with Peninha… Afterwards, she worked as public relations at Hippopotamos and Gallery (two famous nightclubs in São Paulo in the 1980s/90s). So, my house was full of singers and artists. Once the dancer Baryshnikov appeared there. This artistic environment was very natural in my house, they went to celebrate, to talk… And it will be a part of this story that I will tell in this new restaurant. It will be a Sound Brazil!