in San Sebastián, Spain, and at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. Along the way he learned about organic farming, sustainability and seasonal cooking all common topics in kitchens across the mainland US and Europe at the time but still virtually unheard of in Puerto Rico.In 2012, Cuevas returned home with a mission. He hit up local markets and started conversations with the farmers, encouraging them to diversify their crops.
Cuevas made good on his promise. In 2017, when Hurricane Maria devastated the island, he kept 1919 open and continued to buy whatever crops had survived the disaster—mostly root vegetables. “Maria was our biggest challenge,” Cuevas says. “But it was also a wake-up call.” Many Puerto Rican small farmers, understanding that another Maria could wreak havoc at any moment, became serious about diversifying their crops; the practice is now, finally, the norm.
Cuevas works with some of the most forward-thinking farms and farming co-ops on the island, including agroecological farm El Josco Bravo, in the mountains of Toa Alta, which offers educational workshops—how to plow the land with oxen, for example—and boasts nearly 23,000followers. And after a decade back on the island, he has mentored a new generation of local chefs now making their mark on Puerto Rico’s culinary scene.
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