Zacapa: Five of the World’s Most Creative Chefs on How They Make a Break From the Kitchen - Why Taking Time is Key to Unlocking Inspiration

When you think of the professional kitchen, you think of the roaring grill, the bark of the chefs' orders and the rising smoke. It is no wonder that this is widely considered to be one of the busiest environments on the planet. How do the chefs at the cutting edge of culinary creativity find their inspiration among all the kitchen noise?

     (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486830/Zacapa_TAOS_Madrid.jpg )

     (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486831/Zacapa_TAOS_Milan.jpg )

     (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486832/Zacapa_TAOS_Rossi.jpg )

A brand new short documentary series, 'The Art of Slow,' from the world's leading super deluxe rum, Zacapa, sets out to uncover exactly this and explore the stories of chefs who are pushing the creative boundaries of gastronomy.

Kamilla Seidler, recently named Best Female Chef in Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2016, takes time-out of her award-winning restaurant, Gustu in Bolivia (owned by Noma co-founder Claus Meyer) and journeys to Italy, Spain, United States and Mexico to spend time with, and be inspired by, four leading chefs who are redefining the gastronomic world.

Putting ingredients and techniques aside, Kamilla looks beyond the kitchen in order to understand what separates these culinary disrupters from those around them. While savouring a glass of Zacapa with each of the chefs, she explores what inspires them, their creative processes and their 'a-ha!' moments when they reconnect with what is around them.

Kamilla meets:

• Diego Guerrero (Madrid, Spain) - the two Michelin star Chef at DSTAgE Madrid
• Guillermo González Beristaín (Mexico) - Chef at Pangea, Monterrey and winner of the Chefs' Choice Award in Latin America's 50 Best restaurants 2016
• Diego Rossi (Italy) - Head chef at Trippa, Milan (awarded Michelin Bib Gourmand), he previously worked in Antiche Contrade, Cuneo, earning it a Michelin star
• Cesar Zapata (USA) - Chef at Phuc Yea! And previously at The Federal, Miami.

Although they come from the four corners of the globe, they all share a passion for ingredients, making their clientele happy through pleasurable gastronomic experiences and embracing what Zacapa calls 'The Art of Slow' - a philosophy that recognises the best things can't be rushed. It encourages taking time out to reconnect, to go fishing for inspiration and foraging for innovative ideas and celebrates the inspiration that is found along the way.

Kamilla discovers that each of these chefs leaves the kitchen at the end of a long shift and takes time to decompress and rediscover, through a host of different activities - Cesar cycles, Diego finds solace in his native Italian countryside, Guillermo heads to the mountains and Diego Guerrero unwinds with music.

Diego Guerrero muses: "If you are cooking all the time you can't see any further than that - your mind is closed and you have no external influences to inspire you. I have learnt that it's really important to leave the kitchen, to disconnect, so that you can go back to it again. I pushed this philosophy to the limit a few years ago, we had our first Michelin Star in 2007 but we recognised that in order to improve we needed to leave the restaurant, seek inspiration and start again from scratch. We launched DSTAgE and two years later we had another two stars."

Kamilla added: "I think it is very important - in fact it is extremely necessary - to take some time to yourself - to calm down, to think about other things outside of the kitchen, to enjoy what you are doing, to take things slowly. I believe that taking time to learn from others is fundamental, it's a gift in gastronomy that you can always keep learning but you need to search for inspiration, to look for influences, to see and to taste new things.

"That's why I loved taking part in this culinary exploration - I learnt so much from these four revered chefs, how they each embrace the Art of Slow philosophy in their own way - relaxing and breathing and enjoying everything instead of thinking about what they're going to do in five minutes, and now I'll take it back with me, renewed and refreshed, to my kitchen."

Montserrat De Rojas, Global Brand Director, Zacapa, said: "We love how these five leading chefs - who are at the very forefront of creative gastronomy - have brought The Art of Slow to life both inside and outside their kitchens. Zacapa's Art of Slow philosophy celebrates the magic that happens when you take the time to create genuinely meaningful and pleasurable experiences including great food and drinks.

"For Zacapa, time matters more than anything, it is a focus throughout every stage of how we craft the luxury liquid. From taking the time to select the finest virgin sugar cane, to hand crafting a Mayan 'petate' band which adorns each bottle, to our unique maturing process: 'Sistema Solera*,' right up to taking the time to sip, savour and enjoy the luxury rum. Every element of the journey has been carefully chosen and the time taken to produce a deep and complex flavour like no other. Together with these esteemed chefs, we are inviting people to sit down and savour a sip of Zacapa and a great conversation, to embrace the Art of Slow."

The four-episode Art of Slow series will be available to watch from today at https://www.youtube.com/user/RonZacapaOfficial or visit http://www.zacaparum.com.

*Aged using an adapted Spanish sherry maturing process, 'Sistema Solera' enables rums of varying ages and personalities to be carefully blended by the Master Blender. Old and new rums are carefully combined and matured in a series of casks previously used to store American whiskeys, delicate Sherries and Pedro Ximenez wines, which give a depth of flavor. A high altitude and constant average temperature of 14°C allows the liquids to retain distinctive deep, rich qualities.

Enjoy Zacapa responsibly. Visit http://www.DRINKiQ.com.