Ruth Van Waerebeek

Chef Ruth Van Waerebeek combines a love of travel, adventure and the culinary arts with a talent for communicating those passions verbally and in print. Born in Ghent, Belgium, Ruth learned to cook, as so many do, at the side of her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. This accumulated wealth of generational wisdom would eventually lead Ruth on an extraordinary expedition around the world, one that continues to this day. It was while spending time in New York that Ruth became captivated by the vibrant flavors and novel ingredients of “Nuevo Latino Cuisine,” then a newly emerging culinary movement whose leading exponents included chefs Douglas Rodríguez (New York), Norman Van Aken (Miami) and Guillermo Perron (Philadelphia). Thus it was that Ruth first came to experiment with a hybrid of classic French cooking techniques applied to fresh, natural and exotic produce from the Americas. After a decade in New York, Ruth headed south, eventually settling in the provincial town of Melipilla in Chile’s Central Valley, where she founded a small restaurant with the assistance of Chilean friends. In Chile Ruth swiftly acquired an even greater appreciation for Chile’s natural abundance of produce and seafood, and a newfound awareness of the country’s exceptional array of fine wines. Since 2000, Ruth has served as consulting chef and culinary advisor to Concha y Toro, the preeminent name in fine quality Chilean wines. In addition to her three cookbooks, Ruth has written for Food & Wine magazine and is a regular culinary contributor to Paula, a Chilean woman’s and lifestyle magazine.