State: Victoria
Age: 37
Occupation: Stay At Home Mum
Few can boast the global culinary background of Denise and she hopes that learning to cook from a young age and her extensive travel will guide her to victory in the 10th season of MasterChef Australia.
Born in Mexico, Denise grew up surrounded by rich culinary traditions and great family cooks. With the fresh, bountiful and varied ingredients of Mexico, it is here where her love and appreciation of great food and cooking began. Her oldest memories are back in Mexico learning to cook from her mother.
Denise moved to Old Trafford, Manchester in the UK at the age of five with her family. Living in the UK allowed them to immerse into British culture, and combined with their love of food, this meant enjoying and learning from a multitude of other cuisines, including British, Indian, Pakistani, Turkish, Chinese and Korean. After living in the UK, Denise returned briefly to Mexico before spending several years in Australia and Kuwait.
After graduating from university in Australia with a Geology degree, Denise worked in the oil and gas industry for 10 years as a global product manager, living in Perth, the US and Norway.
Since 2014 she has called Melbourne home and she admits that travel has undoubtedly had a huge influence on her enjoyment of eating and cooking.
Travelling allowed her to expand her palate and she hopes her efforts to make authentic dishes using authentic ingredients will be her biggest advantage in the MasterChef Australia kitchen.
Denise hopes to one day launch her own brand of Mexican food products, named after the beautiful cobbled suburb her family hails from in Mexico City. She hopes her brand will at last bring to Australia “real” Mexican food, made from fresh, healthy and delicious ingredients.
Fluent in English and Spanish, when she is not in the kitchen Denise loves to visit museums and galleries with her daughter and has an interest in Scandinavian design.
