Spike sits down with Chef Juan Manuel Barrientos–better known as Juanma—to trace his wild rise from running a hot dog cart kitchen to leading Elcielo, the first Colombian restaurant to earn a Michelin star. Juanma opens up about hustling through failures and all-night shifts, the lessons in humility he picked up scrubbing kitchens in Argentina, and how that grind shaped his global culinary empire. But the story goes deeper: through his foundation (the El Cielo Foundation), he’s training former guerrilla fighters, paramilitaries, and victims of Colombia’s conflict to cook, rebuild, and feed their families. Food here isn’t just art—it’s second chances, peacebuilding, and proof that the kitchen can heal as much as it inspires.

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