Victoria Stay At Home Mum @keymav

Hailing from the small Venezuelan town of Ciudad Guayana, Keyma Vasquez Montero recalls every family gathering of her childhood centring around food. On weekends her grandparents, aunts and cousins would gather and prepare big feasts with game meat on offer including turtle and spotted paca. Her grandparents were raised in coastal cities influenced by Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies Caribbean Islands, so Keyma admits Caribbean styles still find their way into her dishes.

With dreams of representing the Latin and Spanish community, Keyma says her signature dish would cover several courses, empanadas, golfeados (cheesy rolls), reina pepiada arepas (chicken and avocado cornmeal cakes), chupe (chicken and corn soup) and to finish it off, torta tres leches (three milk cake).

With a love of the works created by Heston Blumenthal, Clare Smyth and Gordon Ramsay, Keyma most enjoys cooking with acidic foods like passionfruit, guava and tamarind. She enjoys reinventing dishes and presenting childhood classics in different ways, firmly believing rustic dishes and street food have a place on a fine dining menu.

Keyma loves to dance and work with her hands, and her hobbies include crocheting, sewing and making origami. She also enjoys karaoke and playing board games with her family, including her young children, 12-year-old Bella and nine-year-old Osvaldo.

One day she’d love to own her own restaurant featuring a rotating menu with Latin, Caribbean and Australian flavours and influences. She’d also like to write her own cookbook celebrating the dishes of her childhood.