Chilean Chef Publishes Book About Cooking on Luxury Yachts

Daniel Contreras has turned 15 years of cooking aboard luxury yachts into a book that combines recipes with stories from life at sea. “Cooking Between Waves: Stories and Recipes from a Chef at Sea” follows his work for wealthy clients across the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and Mexico’s Pacific coast.

The Chilean chef recalls dinners accompanied by performances from Manuel Mijares and Aleks Syntek, as well as the pressure of preparing food for an Indian executive who ate only vegetables. The book presents those experiences alongside the recipes created during his years on the water.

Contreras was born in Conchalí and began his career at the Grand Hyatt hotel. After training in Tijuana, he stayed on at a restaurant in La Paz, Baja California Sur. His career changed in 2009, when he boarded the yacht Tully for the first time to cook for one of Mexico’s most powerful families.

“That is where I learned to work with precision, creativity and under pressure, in an environment that demanded excellence in every detail,” Contreras says. He has not “disembarked” since, turning an unusual professional life into a culinary memoir shaped by kitchens, luxury yachts and open water.

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That is where I learned to work with precision, creativity and under pressure, in an environment that demanded excellence in every detail.