Chef Luiz has always liked to cook. He first started working with food in his father’s
small candy factory in Sao Paolo, Brazil. “When I was just a kid, I told my family that
I wanted to be a chef, because I liked to cook and wanted to see the world,” explains
Chef Luiz. “But the REAL reason was I liked to EAT good food…that was the reason
to become a chef!”

Chef Luiz kept that goal in mind as he grew up. First he apprenticed in a restaurant
while attending culinary school. Upon graduation, he worked in a number of
restaurants and hotels in Brazil and the U.S., before joining Varig, Brazil’s national
airline where he worked as the director of food and beverage for the company’s
hotel operation.

Next on his culinary adventure, he joined the food industry, where he has worked ever
since. Long before it was fashionable to hire chefs in an industrial capacity, Chef Luiz
started working for CPC International as a chef formulator. His long career—20+years
—at CPC/Bestfoods/Unilever was spent working in product development and
formulation of foods, using dehydration, frozen, sous-vide, canned and emulsion-
based technologies. Along the way, he created patented technology for use in
manufacturing instant pastas and cold sauces.

Today he’s cut back his travel to only 50,000 miles a year while doing consulting work,
but he’s never lost his desire to share his love of cooking and eating good food.