Exploring Jamaica’s Rastafarian religion turned Spanish chef Raul Tronco Calahorra onto vegetarianism
- Raul Tronco Calahorra is head chef of vegetarian restaurant Komune, at Ovolo Southside
- After trying a Rastafarian diet, he adopted a healthier lifestyle and his next goal is to go vegan
What are your earliest memories of food? “My father taught me to have passion and dedication in cooking, and to look for the best flavour. He is from northern Spain, where the flavours are stronger and spicier; lots of soups and stews to keep you warm in the winter.
“The first thing I made was fried eggs when I was six years old. My father told me the oil in the pan had to be hot to get the crispy edge around the egg. It was scary to crack open the eggs over the hot oil, but at the same time it was exciting. I failed the first time and sometimes I got burned, but it’s a process.”
What was your first day working in a restaurant like? “I went to culinary school, where I learned the proper way to make sauces, how to cut, but when I faced my first service as a professional, I realised there were a lot of things I still needed to learn. In school there is no timing, but when you are a professional you have to do things fast. It’s exciting.
“For my first job I worked at a restaurant owned by the brother of one of my instructors. On the first day I picked up a pan from the oven that was 250 degrees without a towel. The chef told me, ‘Why did you stop working? Come on!’ I said, ‘I just burned my hand.’ ‘OK, put your hand under cold water for five minutes and come on! We are busy!’ Life is tough when you finish school with one of the highest grades and then realise you know nothing. You need to slow down and learn step by step.”
What was it like to work with chef Mario Sandoval of Coque in Madrid? “He taught me a lot early in my career [2006-07], mostly consistency and discipline. Whatever problems you have in the kitchen, it’s not the customer’s fault.
“You need to deliver the best to the customer because they are paying for good food. You cannot fool people with overpriced or overrated food. I don’t want to tell you I have an amazing truffle dish when I use the cheapest truffle. Either I choose the best truffle or I choose none.”
Why did you want to work in hotels? “After 10 years in restaurants I wanted to learn how they manage food costs, how to run big operations, how to approach guests. In 2015, I went to the Grand Hotel Paraiso, in Mexico. I was the executive sous chef and learned how to deal with different hotel departments, how to create a buffet, how to control food costs.
“A year later my boss told me about an executive sous chef position in Jamaica and I took it. But in Jamaica the people aren’t as professional as in Mexico; most Jamaicans live in poor conditions, and cooking is not really their passion so it was hard to keep consistency.”
Why did you become vegetarian? “People think all Jamaicans are Rastafarian and smoke weed. But according to Rastafarianism [a religious movement that developed in Jamaica in the 1930s] you cannot eat anything processed by humans. For example, a Rastafarian cannot drink coffee unless they grow and roast the beans themselves.
“If I grow my own chickens, I can eat them, or if I fish for my own fish, I can eat it. Most Rastafarians don’t have access to these foods so they become vegetarian. They also don’t drink milk, or eat dairy products, or eat salt or sugar unless they make it.
“When I heard that I thought that was crazy, but in January 2017 I decided to try it for a week. I struggled a lot, and eating without salt was a shock for me. I started on a Monday and on the Friday I went home not feeling well. I felt weak, lost 4kg and had a 40-degree fever. I took medicine made from roots by Rastafarians and, the day after, I was completely fine, no fever, not weak.
“Later, I realised after talking to a Rastafarian that my body was reacting to toxins in my system. I thought I was a healthy person but actually I wasn’t. I continued the diet for two months and then created my own diet to eat and drink as healthily as possible.”
How did you come to Hong Kong? “In 2017, I came here to visit one of my best friends, chef Jose Navarro Cotes, who used to work at La Paloma. The moment I arrived I fell in love with this city. I ate everything – chicken feet, dim sum, char siu. I eat 90 per cent healthy, 10 per cent whatever I want.
“Jose told me about a job opening at Pica Pica and I came in 2018. It was nice to open a restaurant in Hong Kong serving traditional Spanish food, but it was hard for me to be completely vegetarian.”
Now that Komune is vegetarian, what are the challenges in creating a menu? “It was my first time developing a vegetarian menu. I had no clue what to do. Usually you have in mind beef, fish, lamb, pork. But when you create a vegetarian menu, you are not attached to that so you can do whatever you want. People like to eat cheese, bread and rice, so I use them and add my touch of strong flavours.”
What kind of dishes have you created? “We have a Josper grill to cook vegetables and make ice creams. I have a smoked strawberry ice cream where I burn fresh strawberries over charcoal, it tastes slightly smoky and sweet. I also have a purple cauliflower one that has a spicy, sour and sweet taste at the same time. I use achar sauce for momos in Nepalese cuisine, and baba ganoush and piquillo peppers from northern Spain.”
What tips do you have for becoming vegetarian? “Start slowly, eating less meat and you will realise you don’t need it. I’m into sports like the gym and rock climbing, and people ask me where I get my proteins to keep fit. They don’t realise we feed animals vegetables to make them grow bigger muscles.
“Vegetables may have less protein than meat, but vegetables have cleaner protein because they don’t have saturated fat or chemicals from animals injected with hormones or vaccines.
“I cut out protein shakes because they’re milk based. I eat more sweet potatoes, broccoli, beans and I feel great, I have energy all the time. When I sprain a muscle, the healing process is faster. I haven’t been sick for over two years. When you eat veggies you are helping yourself and Mother Earth.
“I am 36 years old but I feel like I’m 26. When I came to Hong Kong I was 86kg, now I’m 76kg because I stopped eating meat, and my body fat dropped from 19 to 11 per cent. My next goal is to go vegan. So many people around the world are vegan and lift weights and are world champions.”
