MasterChef Spain finalist Eva Micaela will work in the Mayakoba tourist complex

Eva Micaela Millán Page, finalist in MasterChef Spain, will work in a restaurant at the Mayakoba luxury tourist development following her studies to obtain her Cooking Degree from the renowned Le Cordon Bleu culinary arts school in Madrid.

Eva Micaela had the opportunity to experience Mayakoba firsthand this past summer. While vacationing in August, Eva spent a few days in this exclusive tourist development, where she enjoyed the attractions of a place that she described in her Facebook posting as “a paradise, full of vegetation and sustainable development. An ideal spot for a biologist, nature in its purest state”.

Driven by OHL Development in Mexico’s Riviera Maya, Mayakoba is one of the bellwether sustainable tourist destinations in Mexico and within the international sector. The World Tourism Organization and Rainforest Alliance recognized the complex in 2011 with their highest awards, respectively the Ulysses and Sustainable Standard-Setter awards for its commitment to sustainability, preservation, improving the environment and supporting local communities.

Mayakoba currently has three operating hotels run by three of the most prestigious international hotel chains: Fairmont, Rosewood and Banyan Tree, in addition to the Greg Norman designed El Camaleón golf course, which made history by becoming the first venue outside the United States and Canada to host an official tournament in the professional PGA circuit. The restaurant where Eva Micaela Millán will work is in this golf course.

The sustainable model of tourism championed by Mayakoba has been one of the factors influencing Eva Micaela, biologist by education, to accept the offer from this exclusive tourist development.

MasterChef Spain Finalist

Eva Micaela was born and spent the first five years of her life in Arinaga (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). She and her family then moved, first to Jaén and, from there, to Montilla in Cordoba, where she has been living since was 17. Eva studied Biology and holds a master’s degree in Food Quality and Safety. She is currently concluding another master in Nutrition at the University of Cordoba.

Eva is a very dynamic person with imagination and a great sense of humor. She is a hard worker and competitive, and dreams of creating an online nutrition company to fuse together her two passions: health and cuisine.

She fell in love with food while eating, especially her mother’s Salmorejo and her grandmother’s Rosquillas. For Eva, cooking is form of making art and creating. Her cooking is characterized by its intensity of flavor, rich in spices and with select ingredients from international cuisine. Her originality, strength and tastes are epitomized in each dish, as she infuses each recipe with uniqueness.

This young lady hailing from Cordoba stood out in all the MasterChef Spain competitions and the jury selected her as the best competing chef on many occasions. A four-time captain, Eva solely had to navigate through three elimination tests. While not the winner of this talent show, Eva nevertheless relished a unique experience and gained the admiration of the profession.

Eva signed up for MasterChef seeking to learn and a life-changing opportunity. She has achieved just that. She has been undergoing three intensive months of master cooking classes and has also secured funding to pursue a Cooking Degree in the renowned Le Cordon Bleu culinary arts school in Madrid. Following her training there, she will work in the Mayakoba tourist complex for one year.

The most essential, however, is that she has the recognition of the world’s best chef, Ferran Adrià. The chef of El Bulli revealed to her the DNA for the culinary process in his restaurant, a singular document that chef Adrià will publish in January of 2014.

For the MasterChef finale, Eva’s menu even surprised Adrià. It comprised three dishes: cream of almond with artichokes and oysters, Iberian pork cheek medallions with mushroom couscous followed by a chocolate cake with orange cream. Ferran affirmed that these dishes could be perfectly at home in a blue ribbon restaurant. “It is technically perfect. Her mastery is incredible”, he added.