Mauricio Jimenez
With over fifteen years of experience under his wings, Chef Mauricio Jiménez has managed to carve himself a niche within the food industry. When he no longer wanted to be just another restaurant chef, Mauricio decided to take a detour towards a more rewarding genre within his field: culinary education. This genre has been a significant part of his career curriculum for the past five years. Soon after starting his personal chef company, "Personal Chef Deluxe", (PCD), he discovered a new passion which consisted in guiding and teaching people to make better decisions about the foods they eat. PCD became one of the few personal chef services in South Florida that catered only to special diet needs. Chef Mauricio makes a strong point about prevention and new alternatives regarding healthy food choices: "It's a very rewarding feeling to know you are helping someone make better, more educated decisions about food.» Chef Mauricio developed meal programs especially tailored towards his clients' needs. Many of them were open heart surgery recovering patients. "It's very challenging, especially when you know that your clients are trusting your judgement and know-how" Mauricio explains, "it really pushed me to seek that specific information you need in order to make the right menu planning". This is where he really gathered his knowledge, by listening to his clients, as it's all about them.
Chef Mauricio is a strong believer that food education should be simple, unpretentious and ready for the masses. "One needs to speak their language and keep the restaurant jargon where it belongs, in the restaurant". Mauricio also believes that there is a strong desire from the public to be educated when it comes to food choices and cooking methods. "Information is all around us, but we need to make sure, as chefs, that we deliver it in a light, fun and friendly way". In personal demonstrations Chef Mauricio believes that the lessons taught should resonate with the viewers. " Make it simple, make it fun". That is the Chef's mantra.
Chef Mauricio is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and a former culinary teacher at the "Escuela Hotelera de San Juan", a former owner of two restaurants, a catering company and a personal chef service operation. He is also a published food and travel writer and photographer. Mauricio's pieces have been published in several publications in North America.
The Chef has had the honor of cooking for important figures such as the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, King and Queen Juan Carlos and Sofía from Spain, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Formula One champion Emerson Fittipaldi,The Bee Gees, punk rocker Iggy Pop, flutist Nestor Torres, Miami Heat coach Pat Riley, Miami Dolphins legends Don Shula and Dan Marino, Bill Gates, Mariah Carey, Rita Marley, Barbra Streisand and Gloria Estefan.
Chef Mauricio is completely fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese and is now a widely followed personality in the social media networks. In November he started his fan page on Facebook, (Chef Mauricio Jiménez), with unprecedented success. He has amassed an impressive amount of international fans in very short period of time while providing them with bilingual (English/Spanish) content, tips and recipes on a daily basis. This exposure has helped him land television presentations in Puerto Rico and his future plans include an upcoming radio show, a personal website, and possibly his own television show.
