The germ that would change his life awoke in Formentera. She was very young, she had not yet turned 18, and she ended up on the island to visit a friend. He was hooked on the island, found work at a beach bar and the germ clicked. She repeated the following year and was promoted. Returning to her homeland, Vicky Sevilla (Cuart de les Valls, Valencia, 1992) enrolled in a hospitality school and in November 2021 she became the youngest Spanish chef to earn a Michelin star. And he had only been running his own restaurant, Arrels, in Sagunto for three years.
Vicky has just returned to the island that made her find her way on the occasion of the SON Estrella Galicia Posidonia, the only festival in the world to achieve TRUE Platinum certification as Zero Waste or Residuo Cero awarded by the North American Green Business Certification Inc. Every year, hundreds of people fight to get one of the 350 tickets that go on sale and sell out in minutes: a secret poster, a Michelin Star gastronomic proposal and the awareness of the positive impact. In the October 2024 edition, 2Many DJs, Baiuca, Roosevelt, Kabeaushé and Nubiyan Twist, among others, performed and Vicky Sevilla was in charge of serving 350 privileged responsible and non-conformist tourists: starters based on mussels, razor clams and fruits dried, red tuna tartare with tomato sauce, chamomile wine and piparra gel and sausage and broad bean empanadas, which were followed by a low-temperature suckling pig saam and a blanket burger with eel and tartar sauce.
Vicky Sevilla, chefSara Castano
Why do you owe so much to Formentera?
Especially because it gave me a profession. I didn’t know how to cook and I left the island without practically knowing how to cook. I learned that there are some set-ups of dishes, how to do things and some basic cooking techniques. The following year they put me in charge of the cold room with three people. My interest in the craft was awakened and what I fell in love with was that cooking can be combined with art.
Which brings us to your first calling.
I wanted to study Fine Arts but my mother didn’t let me. Greetings, mom. The typical thing, thinking that I wouldn’t give money and I was going to die of hunger, I don’t know. For me, cooking is an art and at that time I was also very interested in sports and cooking always had movement, it was very dynamic. I was hooked that no day was the same.
Formentera is a very small island, does that limit the possibilities in the kitchen?
I understand that being an island it can be a little more complicated to import products that are not local, but despite being so small, it has a large pantry: lamb, pork, oil, wine, a lot of fish, seafood and a lot of gardens. Tell me, for example, what London has. Aha.
Where did you learn to cook?
I studied at the Castellón Hospitality School, but I think that where I have learned the most to cook is in my restaurant, where I could now buy to try, make mistakes, do many tests… It is where I start to create dishes.
In a recent interview you talked about how angry you were that people who were not going to dedicate themselves professionally to cooking occupied public places.
Yes, it hurt me because there are many young people who want to try learning a trade to make a living and I came across certain cases that… Look, I remember a lady who was in her 50s and owned two English academies. If you can even afford a private chef, don’t come and take the place away from someone who is looking for a profession or simply a job. Or a veterinarian with a movement difficulty that… Couldn’t stand for 12 or 14 hours each day. Even talking to him, he told me that he had no plans to leave the consultation. Well, I don’t know: watch tutorials, cooking shows, but don’t block someone’s place. I studied in public school because for me it is the best school in the Valencian community and I think it is important for young people to know that studying in public places can also go far.
What references inspire you?
I am very inspired by David Muñoz, not because of the type of cooking he makes, because we make different cuisine, but I am inspired by his perseverance and imagination. I think he is the only one who can put 25 things on the plate, all of them separately and together, too. It’s super complicated to achieve that. And as for consistency, I mean always being up there for so many years. It’s admirable.
Can you eat anything?
One thing is to feed and the other is to eat. Virtually everything can be eaten or cooked, unless they are toxic or poisonous, obviously.
Are there many quirky things in the world of haute cuisine? I understand that a certain very famous Scandinavian restaurant offers those who come to learn how to count ants.
There are restaurants that have a type of cuisine that may require that, a restaurant with a lot of fame, with many interns who work for free and can afford to do this type of thing, who are counting ants. Which will go on the plate. We avoid eccentricities, what comes first is flavor, balance and a well-made product. And it is true that later, when I make a dish and I see that it is already fine, tasty, balanced and so on, I make it beautiful.
Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
I would love to have a hotel. There are people who, if they win the lottery, buy a yacht; If it were me, I would buy a hotel. I love it. But it’s not so much about serving people, my thing is to be more in the kitchen than facing the public. I like the service sector and I love hospitality.
