Macon Magazine

100 maconmagazine.com | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 and llama enclosure and oyster station, Chef Hipolito Sanchez gives a presentation on ancient practices of nixtamalizing corn while Chef Samantha Buyskes forms fresh tortillas. "If you look in the global culinary realm, there are two cuisines that are neck and neck, French and Mexican. That's because of the way Mexican cuisine honors the Indigenous process. When you go to a great Mexican or Central American restaurant and get a taco or tamale, when you taste a mole, you're tasting thousands of years of tradition being kept alive," Sanchez says. The scent of chorizo frying in hot oil leads us to the center of the pavilion, where Herencia y Cultura dance company's red skirts swirled as they shared traditional Latin dances like chapanecas and la pollera colora just moments ago. Now, we find Chef Brian Carson of Bulla in Atlanta making an enormous paella while a crowd gathers around him. He's breaking down each ingredient in real time, and everyone is silent, leaning close to hear over the snaps and pops of the pan and inhale the aroma deeply. "The best paella I ever had was in Spain, where they cooked directly in the fire," he says. "Bits of wood ash would mingle into the dish, and to this day, I'll sprinkle in a little ash from the fire to try and replicate that depth of flavor." "FARMILY" Just after the paella demo, we follow the roaring sound of a massive flame torch to the huge grills behind the cocktail station. Chef Samantha is sautéing carrots for the mushroom escabeche in a frying pan the size of a kiddie pool. She gives culinary tours all over the world. She explains that as she travels, she thinks of her farmily at Boucherie. ABOVE Chef Hector and Ritz- Carlton's Juan Pablo carry the pachamanca to the VIP dinner buffet. MIDDLE Ben Hampton and farmily. BOTTOM Chef Chelsia is assisted as night falls.

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