Meet Emerson Majano | Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emerson Majano and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emerson, why did you pursue a creative career?
Pursuing this culinary artistic career has been one of the best decisions I have made in my life. It all started when I grew up with my great grandmother, she was my driving force to follow this career. My great grandmother had the creativity in the kitchen to find solutions in the culinary field very quickly, such as creating her own stove with bricks and mud. Once I saw so much of her creativity in the kitchen, I was completely captivated by the fact that so much curiosity led me to go into the kitchen, hiding from my dad since my dad was very strict (sexist) since he was more of the people he said, “men don’t cook, that’s women’s work” which was crazy because he knew how to cook. My great grandmother was a genius since she was the author of “I teach you son secretly from your dad” and that’s how my passion for cooking began!

My grandmother, apart from not agreeing with my dad that “only women cook,” she showed me that not only women cook, that men also cook, and she showed me by showing me my now favorite movie, rattatuille.

As you can see, my great grandmother was a sweetheart, because she always looked for ways for me to follow something that I did with passion and a lot of love, because for her that was the most important thing, doing things with love, in other words, transmitting love with the food.

And until now, that teaching from my great grandmother has been one of the reasons why I decided to pursue this culinary artistic career, because despite developing a lot of art in it, a lot of love is transmitted in it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
well, In 2016, I had to emigrate to the US because of violence and extortion, and if I hadn’t left the country I would have been dead by now because of the gangsters that operate there. I moved to the US and when I arrived to the US with my mom, we were not feeling welcomed since people were discriminating against us. And many students at the school I used to go to in Hanford (near Fresno) were bullying me, discriminating against me, and telling me “Go back to your country” calling me beaner, and then I started dealing with anxiety, depression, and having many traumas.

Because of other reasons, we moved from Hanford to LA, and everything was different. Mostly everyone speaks Spanish. We used to sleep on the floor at my uncle’s house, and our pillows were our clothes for the next day. We slept on the floor for two years, and I started going to school at Santee High School. I felt different; I felt welcomed.

One day I was in my ELD class with Mrs. Flores and after class, she asked me a question in Spanish that said “Emerson, what do you wanna do in life after high school?” I was confused because I had in my head what my dad said and what my grandma said. I responded to that teacher. “I think I wanna be a doctor (even tho I was scared of needles), but I love cooking too she said “We don’t have a nursing program, but we have a cooking program during school time and after school”. Then I got connected with the chef of the school and no experience, Zero English and that chef involved me in the kitchen, I learned everything with hands-on because I didn’t know how to understand English by that time.

I got connected to C-CAP, and the competitions were in English. And I was nervous because I didn’t know anything about English.
I made it to Job Shadows and Job training with not a word of English but learning everything and had the HONOR to meet my celebrity chef star Monti Carlo. Since then the door has opened more and more to me in the industry thanks to C-CAP which showed me how to speak properly and be a professional. My English started getting better and better and I made it to the final competitions and won the scholarship to ICE in Pasadena for the Health supportive Culinary Art program I was the first person in my family to graduate and go to high school/ and culinary school. I would never have gotten into school if it wasn’t for C-CAP, coming from Honduras as an undocumented immigrant to be in culinary school and now working hard to achieve the goal that my great grandma and I have, which is to be in TV sharing love with food and changing much life with my story, motivating more students that are in the same place I was undocumented immigrants with no hope and showing them that it’s always an opportunity if you work hard and smart for it and C-CAP changed my life completely.

Now, I proudly can say I have worked for great people like Gordon Ramsay, Jonathan Club and at the same time being an event/private chef. Being a mentor volunteer for C-CAP Los Angeles and now being the chef/food Consultant at Surfas Culinary District and besides that I have become a mentor.

let me tell you, IT HASN’T BEEN EASY!! and that’s one of the things I wanna share with everyone its not easy but the fight for it its worth it!! be patient,
for me the language was the first barrier, I used to say, ” I wish I could be like that student that knows English perfectly and understands everything” and then experiencing discrimination with my mom was the other thing that drove me to depression that almost killed me.

another thing, that many people don’t know about me is that for me Money was another struggle since we were not able to work; we were living on 10 dollars weekly, our supermarket was the 99 cents store for two years, we didn’t have anything, just our clothes and surviving on 10 dollars for the week buying what was necessary even when I craved a chip I had to hold myself because we didn’t have money.

Experiencing that, I think made me the creative person I am in the kitchen because I was able to make eggs in many different ways. It was hard and sad, but then I got my work permit and finally was able to work. Still didn’t have enough English but Chef Steve Samson from Rossoblu allowed me to work for him at his restaurant since then, everything started to change. It wasn’t easy since I had to go to school from 7:30 am to 2:45 and go to work at 3:00 pm, running after school to get to work on time.

It was exhausting working late-night shifts and waking up super early to be in school on time.

but the big lesson I have learn with that its that The process is going to be hard, and many times painful, but that effort in the end will be worth it, the risks you take will be worth it since that will give you the necessary experience for the great things to come. Being constant, patient, and trusting the process is what will lead us to success.
I want the world to know that you are in the right way, you just gotta be patient with the process. you are getting prepared for the biggest thing that are yet to come, and you will understand after why the process was that hard

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would definitely take them to some of my favorite spots in LA, starting with brunch at Gasolina Cafe, one of the most amazing restaurants with the most authentic, flavorful food inspired in Spain, after that I would take them to where I work, yes you heard me right to my job at Surfas Los Angeles. why? because my friends are food lovers (most of them) and adventure people, Surfas has the most unique stuff like some people say “the stuff you don’t find anywhere else” that’s a hidden gem in LA, the to see the sunset at the best spot in Los Angeles, Palos verdes and ending the night with a nice dinner at Rossoblu LA and sweets from Milet crepes. you can’t go wrong with those creme brûlée crepes! you know, somewhere around the city. and that’s just in one day, there’s a lot more to discover in LA that I even still discovering and sharing it with everyone in social media!!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There’s a lot of people that I am very grateful for but the first organization/program is C-CAP Los Angeles Lisa, Gail, and Ely, C-CAP is an organization that helps students in high school to pursue their dreams in this culinary career. without them, I wouldn’t be where I am now, they were the first people that believed in me even when I didn’t even believe in myself due to my language barrier. they were the ones that not only teached me culinary skills but also learning English, since Spanish is my first language, they teached me personal skills as well. they teached me everything!!

Also friends who have been there since day one like my friend Gustavo and also new friends in the industry as well.
Chef Steve Samson and Dina Samson from Rossoblu, who gave me the opportunity to grow professionally in my first steps in the culinary career. Peggy Mannix Slattery, that drove me to the culinary trainings when I didn’t know how to take the bus, But most importantly are my Mom and sister that have been there helping me out in this career, motivating me while I was exhausted, falling asleep in the dining table while doing homework.
And all of that just because they saw the passion, dedication, potential on me!!

I wouldn’t be where I am without them! ( and some others that I can’t remember right now)

Instagram: @chefemersonmajano

Facebook: Emerson Majano