From Netflix to Politics
How Gabriela Cámara is shaping discussions on food and labor through a Mexico City lens
Gabriela Cámara is returning to Mexico City — a move that marks a new adventure as much as it does a homecoming.
Having grown up outside the Mexican capital, Cámara made her name there as the chef and owner of the hugely influential restaurant Contramar before opening another popular spot in 2015 in San Francisco — where she’s been living the last five years.
Now she’ll make her mark on her hometown in another way: Cámara recently announced that she’s joining the administration of Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whom she’ll advise on food issues. Details so far are sparse, but she’s expected to focus on food access, the environment, and nutrition and health. Cámara told the San Francisco Chronicle last month, “I want to be sort of like a Human Rights Watch, but for food.”
Formal politics may be new, but Cámara has long affiliated herself with progressive social positions. At Cala, her Bay Area restaurant, she instituted the practice of hiring formerly incarcerated people, who make up about half of the front-of-the-house staff, and added a surcharge to diners’ bills to help cover health insurance for her employees. As Cámara shifts focus, Cala and Contramar will…
