Miguel Warren: "I like to have my hands on the product, to do the work myself.

His philosophy, based on a deep connection with the land, led Miguel to leave haute cuisine in Medellín and move to the outskirts of the city to create Gesto, a unique project in which he grows, breeds and transforms. In this way, he takes care of the product from its origin, which he plans to serve only a few days a week in a small dining room, devoting the rest of the time to working the land.

"We left Barcal because we travelled all over the country looking for its mega-diversity, but we saw that it wasn't worth it because of the precarious transport and logistical conditions in Colombia," he admits. Now, he assures us, they have created the pantry we had always dreamed of, and we are making a rural cuisine that is even more holistic and that I feel is "more my own", which requires creativity and dedication, "above all because of the affection we feel for each piece of animal or part of the product". A love for the product that leads him to intervene very little to enhance all its richness, and even to feel obliged to offer offal to the customer, "because it is in line with this affection we have for each animal".

From the San Pedreño pig to its feet

At Gesto, he invests all his time and resources in finding the best quality in each product, focusing on local produce without closing the door on the wonderful Colombian larder. Settling in the mountainous region of Antioquia, he fell in love with the attractions of the San Pedreño breed of pig, "a little cousin of the Iberian", which, in addition to eating lots of fresh mountain grass, is supplemented with garden waste and some cereals. "It was the beginning of our product, motivated by the desire to create a well-made rural cuisine, appealing to haute cuisine, together with the work of the land.  I myself have learnt to butcher pigs, I am passionate about getting the best out of them," he explains.

And the fruits of this exhaustive knowledge of the animal are the five dishes he has presented at Terrae: A mature prey, very thinly sliced, with oil from local mushrooms, also presented in powdered form, and a sauce of pure cured free-range egg yolk and fish eye chilli; Fresh raw pumpkin salad with cooked tongue cured in smoked oil, with fresh watercress and pumpkin seeds, with sweet and sour oranges, sliced and in juice for the dressing;  Cured pork fat butter with sage and salt for the bread service; Beans in pork bone sauce with cabbage leaves and powdered dried pig's blood; and their interpretation of the traditional Pata de Gelatina dessert, replacing the beef leg with pig's trotters to make a jelly that is melted with reduced panela and served with pieces of fruit and cocoa powder.