Chef Corps Spotlight: Meet Chef Luis Martinez
Chef Luis is from a Zapotec pueblo in Oaxaca, Mexico and immigrated to the US in 2005. When he learned World Central Kitchen was responding to Hurricane Otis in Acapulco, he was eager to join our Relief Kitchen as a volunteer. He loved cooking pork with salsa verde, two staples of the cuisine in the state of Guerrero where Acapulco is located.
“People love pork and salsa verde, especially in a traditional pozole verde,” Chef Luis explains. “[WCK]Chefs Wendy and Sergio were focused on making sure we were making what people would normally find on their tables—something that I really appreciated.”
While Chef Luis has a personal connection to Mexico, he was moved by everyone who was there to support the community impacted by the devastating hurricane. “I’m grateful for people that don’t have a connection to a place who are willing to give whatever they have—time, energy, money—to help people,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if you speak the language or if you have the same religion or skin color, you’re there to help. That is one of the things that will stay with me for a while.”
Now based in Asheville, North Carolina, Chef Luis’s greatest passion is celebrating Oaxacan gastronomy. He founded Tequio Foods in 2021 to support independent, indigenous Mexican farmers from the region by importing their heritage corn and beans to the US where they are utilized by chefs and restaurants. He also hosts pop-ups across the country, like one coming up in Burlington, Vermont, where he will teach the community how to use the food products in cooking techniques like nixtamalization and mole fermentation.
WCK’s Chef Corps is a global network of culinary leaders who champion World Central Kitchen’s work providing fresh meals following crises.
