Maria Solivellas

The turning point for the life of Maria Solivellas was on September 11th.

This doesn’t mean that before that moment there were no changes or second thoughts in the life of the Spanish chef. Born under the sun of Mallorca, she moved to the mainland to work, in Madrid and Barcelona, as theatre producer. And then she went back to Caimari, where a few years earlier her mother and sister Teresa had opened a restaurant and worked in the kitchen and in the dining room respectively. They were self-trained, inspired by Like Water for Chocolate; she was also self-trained. She had little intention of returning for good, and even less of making a living in the restaurant industry.

On the 10th September 2001, she sent an email to musician Paquito D´Rivera accepting his offer to work in New York. The following day, the Twin Towers fell, and she took it as a sign: she stayed in Mallorca, became a cook. From that moment on, her trajectory was clear, straight and neat. As luminous as the sky in Mallorca.

At restaurant Ca na Toneta the chef, who defines herself as an "impenitent yet responsible hedonist", follows the rhythm of the island’s seasons, recreating in her dishes the flavours of her Mediterranean childhood. The menu is constantly changing and always surprising, based on a network of local farmers and fishermen that Maria has built over the years. A return to the roots, for locals. A full Mallorcan immersion for tourists who, among stonewalls and white chalk, under a pergola overlooking the sea, find an island they wouldn’t even dare imagine.