Pablo Lagrange, the Argentinian chef who ‘went away to go home’

What was it like growing up in Argentina? “I’m from southern Argentina, in Patagonia, near the moun­tains. I’m from a small village where we grow fruits and vegetables. We didn’t have games like PlayStation so we enjoyed the outdoors and were more in contact with our surroundings.”

Where did your interest in cooking come from? “From getting out and trav­elling. When I was 20 years old I went to Phoenix, Arizona [in the United States], for a year as a cook. It wasn’t what I expected. I was in the desert, surrounded by nothing, and just working. It was my first time away from home for a long period. But it was good.

“I went back and started cooking in restaurants, and learning. That was the first time I enjoyed studying or reading because I was picking what to read, what to study, what to learn. That was the turning point in my life.”

How did it change your approach to cooking? “I started under­standing the process. Before, I was taught to put all the ingredients in the pot and cook the food. I began to understand you can take every­thing out of the pot and give each ingredient a separate treatment, think about textures and flavours and make food taste better. I started using my head to be creative in making dishes.”

You have interned in many places. Which ones stood out for you? “I went to Boragó [in Santiago, Chile] in 2010. It was my first experience in fine dining and my first time picking herbs and flowers that had flavour, not because they looked nice. This was when things started to make sense to me, where I began learning and studying, and asking myself if I wanted to cook, and if so, to do it 100 per cent more seriously.

“A year later I went to Noma [in Copenhagen, Denmark]. It was hard work. I was used to working 16 to 18 hours a day, but not every hour was the same; at Noma, it was the same pressure all the time. You have to be at a high level all day or go home.