The character arc of Virgilio Martinez

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 31 August 1977 in Peru. Between then and now sit certifications at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa and London, formative years at Lutece in New York and Can Fabes in Spain, an executive chef post in Bogota and Madrid, a flagship restaurant in Lima that entered the world list at number fifty in 2013, a research group that travels Peru looking for ingredients, a kitchen built at 11,706 feet in the Andes in 2018, a stop at a Los Angeles airport in 2019 that took some explaining, and the number one restaurant in the world in 2023. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Virgilio Martinez?

Fifty in the world in 2013. First in the world in 2023.

He took his certifications at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa and in London, and spent his formative years in other people kitchens: Lutece in New York, Can Fabes at Sant Celoni in Spain, and then as executive chef at Astrid and Gaston in both Bogota and Madrid. He is considered one of the generation of Peruvian chefs who took their own country cooking out to the world.

What he does with it is unusual enough to have been studied. A 2022 study of innovation in Peruvian gastronomy credited him with the conceptual idea of combining ingredients in one dish in the same way they are found together in the ecosystem. That is not a plating style, it is a way of organising a menu by altitude and habitat rather than by course.

The ingredients follow from it. A potato grown at five thousand metres. Cushuro, an edible cyanobacteria harvested in high-altitude wetlands. Wild kiwicha and wild quinoa. He is an aficionado of salt and cooks with more than a hundred and twenty varieties of it in his Lima restaurant. In 2013 he helped form Mater Iniciativa, an interdisciplinary group who travel throughout Peru looking for ingredients he then cooks with, and in March 2018 he opened a laboratory in the middle of the Andes and works with local families to catalogue crops.

On 29 April 2013 Central entered The World 50 Best Restaurants at number fifty. In 2014 it jumped thirty five places to number fifteen, took the Highest Climber award, and was named the best restaurant in Latin America. In 2023 it was number one in the world. In between he opened Senzo in Cuzco in June 2012, Lima in Fitzrovia in July 2012, which took a Michelin star in the 2014 guide, a second London restaurant in Covent Garden in July 2014, a third in Dubai in March 2017, and Mil near Moray in March 2018, at 11,706 feet.

And on 9 May 2019 he was stopped at Los Angeles airport carrying forty piranhas in vacuum-sealed bags in his personal luggage. Asked what he was bringing into the country, he is reported to have answered that he was carrying flesh and bones, which got him taken to an interrogation room. He was released after showing the officials photographs of the meal he had been planning to cook with them.

The moments

Virgilio Martinez's timeline.

The 1970s

31 Aug 1977

Born in Peru

Everyday. Peru, 1977.

The 1990s

Jun 1996

Ottawa and London

Milestone, and it changed his direction. He learned French technique on two continents.

The 2000s

Jun 2000

Other people kitchens

Milestone, and it changed his direction. New York, Catalonia, Bogota, Madrid.

The 2010s

Jun 2012

Senzo, and then London

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Cuzco and Fitzrovia, one month apart.

1 Jun 2012

Cook the world cuisine, or his own

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: build it on Peru, taken, or cook what the guides reward. Central entered the world list at fifty in 2013 and was number one in the world by 2023.

29 Apr 2013

Central enters at fifty

Milestone, and it changed everything. On the list at last, at the very bottom of it.

Sep 2013

Mater Iniciativa

Milestone, and it changed everything. A research group, sent out to find things to cook.

Jun 2014

Thirty five places in a year

Milestone, and it changed everything. Fifty to fifteen in twelve months.

Jul 2014

A second London room

Milestone. London twice, then Dubai.

Jun 2016

A hundred and twenty salts

Milestone, and it changed everything. A hundred and twenty kinds of salt, in one kitchen.

Mar 2018

A kitchen in the Andes

Milestone, and it changed everything. Eleven thousand seven hundred feet up, with a laboratory.

9 May 2019

Forty piranhas in his luggage

Setback, and it changed his direction. He got out of it by showing them a picture of the dish.

The 2020s

Dec 2021

A menu in Mexico

Milestone. Two cuisines, one menu.

Jun 2022

The ecosystem on a plate

Milestone, and it changed everything. An idea serious enough that a development bank studied it.

20 Jun 2023

The best restaurant in the world

Milestone, and it changed everything. Ten years from entering at fifty to standing at one.

The laboratory in the Andes is still cataloguing crops with the families who grow them. What he set moving is a kitchen organised by altitude rather than by course, which sounds like a gimmick until you notice it took a restaurant in Lima to the top of a list that had never had one.

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His turned on deciding that the interesting question was not what to cook but where in his own country to look for it. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Virgilio Martinez: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Virgilio Martinez's character arc?

A Peruvian chef trained in French kitchens on three continents who came home, built a restaurant around the altitudes and ecosystems of his own country, entered the world list at fifty, and reached number one.

Is Central by Virgilio Martinez the best restaurant in the world?

It was ranked number one on The World 50 Best Restaurants in 2023. It had entered the list at number fifty on 29 April 2013, jumped thirty five places the following year, and won the Highest Climber award.

What ingredients does Virgilio Martinez use?

A potato grown at five thousand metres, cushuro, an edible cyanobacteria from high-altitude wetlands, and wild kiwicha and quinoa. He also cooks with more than a hundred and twenty varieties of salt in his Lima restaurant.

What is Mater Iniciativa, founded by Virgilio Martinez?

An interdisciplinary group of professionals formed in 2013 who travel throughout Peru in search of unique ingredients, which he then incorporates into his cooking. In March 2018 he also opened a laboratory in the Andes to catalogue crops with local families.

What is Mil by Virgilio Martinez?

A restaurant he opened in March 2018 near Moray in the Peruvian Andes, which sits 11,706 feet above sea level. It works alongside the laboratory where he and local families catalogue the crops grown at those altitudes.

What happened to Virgilio Martinez at the airport?

On 9 May 2019 he was stopped at Los Angeles airport carrying forty piranhas in vacuum-sealed bags in his luggage. He was detained after telling officials he was carrying flesh and bones, and released after showing them photographs of the dish he meant to cook.

Where does this timeline of Virgilio Martinez's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Virgilio Martinez isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Virgilio Martinez Veliz, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
The World 50 Best Restaurants rankings from 2013 to 2023.
The Inter-American Development Bank study on innovation in Peruvian gastronomy, 2022.
Contemporary news reports of the 9 May 2019 airport stop, as summarised there.