The Woman Behind a New Dominican Culinary Identity

For Chef Tita, food has never been only about what appears on a plate. It is about memory, identity, community and the stories that deserve to be heard.

Known professionally as Chef Tita, Inés Páez has spent years building a culinary movement that places Dominican ingredients and traditions at the center of modern gastronomy. Her journey has taken her from local kitchens to international culinary stages, television studios and global hospitality platforms, but her purpose has remained closely connected to her homeland.

As the ambassador of the New Dominican Cuisine and a leader in culinary diplomacy, Tita has made it her mission to show the world that Dominican gastronomy has its own voice, history and place on the international culinary map.

Her recognition with the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants Champions of Change Award 2025 marked another important moment in that journey. The award recognized the social impact of her work and her efforts to use gastronomy as a tool for community development and cultural preservation.

For Tita, however, recognition is not the destination. It is another opportunity to tell the Dominican story.

A Journey That Started With a Love for Food

Tita’s relationship with food began long before international awards and television appearances.

She started working in professional kitchens at the age of 17, eventually building an academic foundation in hospitality, tourism and culinary arts. She graduated in Hospitality and Tourism from Universidad Iberoamericana, known as UNIBE, and completed professional training at the Tryp Bosque Hotel in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

She later trained in Culinary Arts at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra and earned a certification from the Culinary Institute of America.

Her education gave her the technical foundation of a professional chef, but her deeper inspiration came from the Dominican landscape and its people.

Instead of looking outward for inspiration, Tita began looking inward. She explored ingredients that had been overlooked, traditional cooking techniques and recipes that carried generations of history.

That search eventually became the foundation of her vision for the New Dominican Cuisine.

Chef Tita Turning Local Ingredients Into Global Stories

The New Dominican Cuisine is not simply about modernizing traditional recipes. For Tita, it is about understanding where food comes from and giving forgotten ingredients a new place in contemporary gastronomy.

Products such as cacao, avocado, yuca, guáyiga, mapuey, yautía and local seafood have become part of this culinary conversation.

Her work has helped bring attention to ingredients that may be familiar to Dominican communities but less known to international audiences.

This approach was clearly visible when she appeared at Madrid Fusión in 2022, becoming the first Dominican chef to take the main stage at the influential culinary event.

There, she presented Dominican ingredients and ancestral influences through a contemporary culinary language.

Her message was powerful because it did not ask Dominican cuisine to become something else to gain international recognition. Instead, it showed how much the world could discover by looking more closely at what was already there.

Aguají And The Return To Ancestral Roots

Today, Tita’s culinary vision is closely associated with Aguají, her coastal restaurant in the Dominican Republic.

The restaurant reflects her interest in connecting contemporary dining with the history and heritage of the island, particularly its Taíno and Arawak roots.

At Aguají, local ingredients are combined with modern techniques while traditional stories remain an important part of the experience.

The restaurant represents a significant stage in Tita’s evolution. It allows her to explore the relationship between food, territory and ancestry while giving guests a different way to understand Dominican culture.

Her approach demonstrates that fine dining does not have to distance itself from tradition. It can instead become a platform for preserving and reinterpreting it.

A Book That Preserves 100 Dominican Recipes

Tita’s commitment to culinary heritage also extends beyond the restaurant.

She is the author of La Nueva Cocina Dominicana, a book that brings together and reinvents 100 traditional Dominican recipes.

The project reflects one of the central ideas behind her career. Culinary heritage survives when it is documented, practiced and passed forward.

For Tita, recipes are more than instructions. They are pieces of cultural memory.

By reinterpreting traditional dishes for contemporary audiences, she has helped create a bridge between generations. The result is a culinary language that respects the past while allowing Dominican cuisine to continue evolving.

When Food Becomes A Tool For Social Change

One of the most important chapters of Tita’s story began outside the restaurant kitchen.

In 2015, she founded Fundación IMA, an organization focused on supporting rural communities and local producers.

The foundation works to create opportunities for farmers and producers while encouraging the use and appreciation of Dominican products.

Rather than simply purchasing ingredients, Tita has worked to build stronger connections between producers, chefs, businesses and consumers.

Her philosophy is rooted in a simple idea. When local products receive visibility and demand, the people who grow and produce them can gain new economic opportunities.

This mission became particularly visible through initiatives such as Fogones y Gastronomía Solidaria, which brought chefs together to provide food to vulnerable communities, including hospitals and neighborhoods in need.

Her work with Chefs Against Hunger, alongside the FAO, further reflects her belief that culinary professionals can play a meaningful role in addressing social challenges.

As Tita has expressed throughout her journey, food can be a tool for social change because it can create opportunities, give people visibility and connect communities.

From Dominican Tables To International Diplomacy

Tita has also helped redefine what it means for a chef to represent a country.

Through gastronomy diplomacy, she has used Dominican food as a form of cultural communication.

Her international appearances have taken her culinary message to more than 20 countries, including destinations across Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Middle East.

She has represented the Dominican Republic at major tourism and gastronomy events, including FITUR, where she participated in official dinners connected to the country’s international tourism promotion.

Her work has also taken her to international culinary gatherings and cultural forums, where Dominican food becomes a way to introduce audiences to the country’s history, products and people.

This is where Tita’s role goes beyond that of a chef. She has become a storyteller for Dominican gastronomy.

Recognition From The World Of Gastronomy

Years of work have brought Tita recognition from major international and national platforms.

She received the Community Spirit Award from La Liste for her impact on rural communities and her commitment to social responsibility.

She has also received recognition from The Best Chef Awards, becoming the first Dominican chef to enter its global ranking as a World Class Chef.

Forbes has repeatedly recognized her among influential women in Central America and the Caribbean, while HOLA! USA included her among influential Latina women.

Her other recognitions include the Medalla al Mérito a la Mujer Dominicana and recognition connected to her role as an ambassador of Dominican gastronomy abroad.

Yet her most significant recent international recognition came in 2025.

The Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants Champions of Change Award recognized Tita for using food to create social impact and strengthen rural communities.

The distinction placed her work within a wider international conversation about the future of gastronomy and the responsibility of chefs beyond the kitchen.

A Television Presence Reaching Millions

Tita’s influence has also expanded through television.

She became a judge on Telemundo’s Top Chef VIP, bringing her culinary knowledge and Dominican perspective to a large Spanish speaking audience.

Her role on the program has allowed her to connect with viewers throughout Latin America and the Caribbean while representing a culinary identity that is deeply connected to her roots.

Her television career adds another dimension to her work. On international culinary stages, she speaks to chefs and industry leaders. On television, she reaches everyday viewers who may discover Dominican ingredients and traditions for the first time.

In 2026, her international presence continues to grow, with new opportunities placing Dominican cuisine alongside chefs and culinary voices from around the world.

Raíces, Collaboration And A Bigger Culinary Conversation

Tita has also created Raíces, an initiative built around collaborations between Dominican chefs, international chefs and local producers.

Through collaborative dinners and culinary experiences, the initiative creates a space where different food cultures can meet while Dominican ingredients remain at the heart of the story.

Her participation in international culinary publications and global food initiatives has further expanded that message.

Whether she is standing on a major culinary stage, cooking at Aguají, speaking with rural producers or appearing on television, the purpose remains consistent.

To make Dominican cuisine more visible.

To create opportunities for communities.

To preserve culinary heritage.

And to encourage the next generation to understand the value of their own food culture.

A Legacy Still Being Written

The most compelling part of Tita’s journey is that her story is still evolving.

She has already moved from professional kitchens to international culinary stages, from restaurant leadership to television, and from cooking to social entrepreneurship and gastronomy diplomacy.

But her achievements are connected by one larger idea.

A chef can do more than cook.

A chef can preserve history, support farmers, influence tourism, represent a nation and create opportunities for communities.

That belief has shaped Tita’s career from the beginning.

Her journey shows that global recognition does not require abandoning one’s roots. In her case, the roots are exactly what made the journey possible.

Dominican cuisine is now reaching audiences far beyond the Caribbean, and Tita remains one of the strongest voices carrying that story forward.

Her work is a reminder that the most memorable dishes are not always the ones with the most complicated techniques. Sometimes, they are the ones that carry a place, a people and a history with them.

For Chef Tita, that history is Dominican.

And her table is now open to the world.

Follow Chef Tita on Instagram

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