Age: 49
From: London via Panama
Occupation: Hotel Worker
Cooking Style: "My style of cooking is a bit different because it's a combination of all the cultures and flavours that have been part of my life. Panama's cuisine is a mix of Latin and Afro-Caribbean. As a proud Latino, my cooking style is inspired by Colombian, Mexican, Caribbean, Spanish and some Italian cuisine. It's very varied. I use all the different cuisines and come up with my own version of a dish. I love cooking for my family. It's how I show my love for them every day, by making dishes they love eating. I love sharing my culture with friends and giving them new dishes to taste that they may have not had before."
Why MasterChef?: "I entered this competition because of my wife. She encourages and motivates me all the time. She always compliments my food and believes in me, so I thought why not! I got a huge confident boost when the production team got back in touch, I never thought I'd be selected to participate and be given such an amazing opportunity to showcase the Latino dishes that I love so much."
Ambition: "My food dream is to come up with a line of quality Panamanian and Latino frozen food. Eating well is hard when people are busy working, so I want to be able to put things like Empanadas, Tamales, Plantain Tarts and other Latino dishes in supermarkets."
MasterChef begins Monday, April 1 at 6.30pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
Neil Wilkes
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