Hi, my name is Tainá Guedes and I am trained chef de cuisine living in
Berlin. I think what a cook does is something very important for our development,
not just for our body but for our soul as well. Food is not just what
we put into our mouth, food is also something that is nourishing our soul. This
means to me: art, poetry, music, people.
I am interested in Shojin-Ryori, bio-dynamics, macrobiotics.
More about me:
I was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1978, where I grew up in the
creative atmosphere around my father’s art studio and amongst his
group of friends.
My first job was as assistant producer at radio USP FM together with the poet
João Bandeira. After that I worked for different Brazilian musicians,
as Arnaldo Antunes and Cid Campos, for Gilberto Gil’s internet radio, for a TV- program and later, as a producer for the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo. During that time I also
made two very short movies about the street artist Gentileza and a
food history.
After nine years of working for a Japanese restaurant in- and outside
of the kitchen, I decided to attend to the “international chef” program
at the school of gastronomy at Senac University, where I graduated as
an international chef in 2006. During that time I also organized
several events that involved art, culture and food. It is my belief,
that these areas are closely related and that they are an important
expression of our time, surroundings and the environment.
In 2006, just after moving to Europe, I began to study “Shojin Ryori”
– the vegetarian Buddhist kitchen of Japan. In 2007 I was invited to
Japan by a Shojin Chef and experienced the kind and devotional spirit, which is the essence of Japanese culture. It put me back in touch with myself and helped me to focus on the kitchen.
Since this time, I have constantly been researching vegetarian food
and, at the same time, developing my own style of cooking with
the intention, to make the most of myself and nature, in order to offer
the best of both to my guests and the people around me.
Shojin Ryori is not just an ancient, beautiful and harmonic,
philosophic and devoted ‘ingredient’ of traditional Japanese culture.
Much more it is an expression of a permanent change and renewing.
Within modern life’s search for inner balance, health and – all-over –
harmonic togetherness and respect, this art becomes more actual and
innovative than ever.
Shojin is a Buddhist term that refers to devotion, purification,
asceticism or diligence in pursuit of enlightenment and perfection and
Shojin Ryori, a type of vegetarian cuisine, was brought into Japan via
China and Korea with the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth century.
tatai's kitchen lab 