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A Mexican chef from Guadalajar will represent Mexico in the international gastronomic competition. She is also the only woman in the Grand Finale of the S. Pellegrino Young Chef Competition that will be held in Milan, Italy on May 8 and 9.

Cynthia Xrysw Ruelas Díaz, 25 years old, is a sous chef who will represent Mexico in an international gastronomic competition. This is after she won a competition last September during the Latin America Regional Finals. This led her to qualify in the Grand Finals of the competition and the only woman competitor.

Diaz presently works as a sous chef at Xokol restaurant in Guadalajara. She will be competing with other chefs from 11 regions of the world to grab the title of "Young Chef 2020."

She won the Regional Finals on September with her signature dish "Milpa Y Mar", this is a native Lisa fish wrapped in a Mexican herb. She served the dish with blue-corn tortillas, a fish broth, and native corn.

In a published article in Mexico Daily News, Diaz shared that her way of cooking is not by copying the dishes in the present generation but by reinventing and improving the Mexican cuisine that has been there since the time of their ancestors. It is about bringing the Mexican culture in the international stage through a gastronomic competition.

She also added that including her colleagues in Xokol restaurant like to research the different cooking techniques and dishes from the different parts of the country and what inspired them is their roots, their ancestors.

Cooking is something very personal and culturally relevant for Diaz because she described it as a way of searching for her identity as a "cocinera tapatia." She also mentioned that "Food from the center of the country, from Puebla, Oaxaca and even Yucatán, is always spoken about but I think food from Jalisco has been forgotten." 

Diaz explained that Jalisco has more than 100 municipalities and each of them has a signature dish. Just like for example in Guadalajara where a tew is traditionally made from a goat or a mutton and pork sandwich that is drowned from a chili sauce.

Meanwhile, when she was asked about her winning cuisine during the Regional Grand Finals she said: "I was inspired by what was the role of the man and the woman, the interaction they had and the harmony ... with the environment. The man was always in charge of hunting and fishing. The woman took care of the cornfield and cooking." 

She also added that she used the "Lisa" fish in her cuisine because it is not highly valued in the country and she used all different parts of it. It seems that Diaz wants to emphasize that everything has a value in this world no matter how small it is.

On May 8 and 9, Diaz will be representing Mexico in the international competition and even though the competition is still months from now she is already a winner because of her method of cooking which is to reinvent the traditional Mexican cuisines that help Mexican culture to be known in the international stage.

This is again another achievement for the Mexicans. It is undeniable that Mexico has one of the best cuisines in the world and Diaz will showcase the hidden traditional Mexican cuisines on May 8 and 9 in Milan, Italy.