Global Courant 2023-04-21 15:35:10
Disciple of the legendary “Cat” Dumas, he was 61 years old. He was the main face and alma mater of the cycle that still survives on Public TV. He suffered cardiac arrest at dawn and died at the Fernández Hospital.
At the age of 61, chef Guillermo Calabrese died, the face and firm that made Cocineros Argentinos a success, the culinary cycle that had its space on Public TV.
As confirmed by his family, Calabrese suffered a cardiac arrest at dawn this Friday and was transferred to the Fernández Hospital by SAME, where he died.
He was currently conducting the ‘Qué mañana’ cycle, on the Channel 9 screen, where he had arrived at the beginning of 2022 to replace Ariel Rodríguez. He himself had defined the program as a “clear gastronomic message, neither pompous nor ceremonious”, in a one-on-one with Clarín prior to the premiere.
He was accompanied in this last stage of the cycle by Daniel Gómez Rinaldi and Maia Chacra, among others.
“With deep pain we say goodbye to our partner and captain of this ship who taught us every day to cook with love and passion. Goodbye Cala, we will miss you,” the program wrote on its official Instagram account.
A disciple of Dumas who was made from below
Endearing, beloved, charismatic and passionate, he had been a medical student when he was young until one afternoon when he approached the legendary chef Carlos Alberto “Gato” Dumas to ask him for a job. At that time, as he recounted in several interviews, chef schools did not exist, so there were not many ways to learn about professional cooking.
‘Cala’ began by cleaning the kitchen of the Dumas restaurant and in little more than a handful of years he became the head of it. He was also one of the chef’s most popular disciples.
Calabrese. buenos aires Guillermo Calabrese program Argentine cooks television program the chef is back
In 1992 they founded together the “Gato” Dumas Institute of Gastronomy, of which he was still General Gastronomic Director until today. It had offices in Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay. They also began to participate on television, in a program that Dumas had on Channel 9 during the 90s.
‘Argentine cooks’, public TV and popular food
He was one of the figures that once again gave space to cooking on television, with the so expensive for the public station as well as the award-winning ‘Cocineros Argentinos’, a cooking cycle that has been on the air for 15 years and of which Calabrese was the founder and soul mater until his resignation in 2020.
At that time, he had alleged that they had not agreed with the production company on the numbers for the renewal, that they had had their controversies in the passing of the efforts of Tristán Bauer -in the time of the Cristina Kirchner government- and Hernán Lombardi -with Mauricio Macri.
His hallmark was undoubtedly popular, quality cuisine with the classic ingredients found in the pantry of any house.
“You have to demystify gastronomy a bit, make it simple. You don’t have to make it difficult to make yourself important. There are very sophisticated (cooking shows) that use ingredients that you have to die for in Chinatown. But what about a man Who lives in Tucumán? Where do you buy Himalayan salt?” he had said in a recent interview.
Passionate, he did not escape gastronomic controversies, although he avoided falling into fanaticism. “I think you have to be open to everything except when they tell you that you are a criminal because you ate meat. If you don’t want to eat it, don’t do it, but let everyone eat what they want. That fight is ridiculous,” he said.
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