Exclusive: How Chef Valerie Chang Cumpa Continues Honoring Her Chinese Peruvian Roots Through Food

Courtesy of Valerie Chang Cumpa

Valerie Chang Cumpa is not your average Chica Boss. The Peruvian Chinese chef moved to Miami from Peru when she was 10 years old, but her love for her country and her cultura never faded, especially her passion for traditional food.

After watching her father cook at sushi restaurants throughout her childhood, the chef and partner of Itamae in Miami's Design District has plated her way to the top. Her family's unique approach to Nikkei-inspired Japanese-Peruvian dishes landed the restaurant a Bib Gourmand Award and a spot on the coveted Michelin guide in 2022.

In an exclusive interview for Hispanic Heritage Month, People Chica is highlighting Chang Cumpa under our Women of Change series due to her passion for placing her culture on a plate.

You grew up in Peru and moved to the United States when you were 10 years old. What were the foods you missed the most moving to the U.S. and what became your new favorites?

I missed everything. I'm a true Peruvian, a very proud Peruvian. My friends always ask me, what do [you] want to eat? And I'm always like, "Peruvian food." And they'll say, "But we ate Peruvian food yesterday," and I'll say, "Yeah, because I'm Peruvian, I can eat Peruvian food every day." My friends struggle with that because I truly am like that—I love Peruvian food and I honestly could eat it every single day.

[When we moved to the states] I missed it so much. We have so much variety and I guess I missed eating [it]. Some days I could have chifa, some days you would have criollo. Here I came and it was like chicken, chicken, chicken, my grandmother did a lot of soups. I miss that for sure. I never had smoothies, so I love smoothies. I hadn't had the Americanized version like a Jamba Juice.

I loved fried chicken, that was something we grew up eating, but it was a whole different way of [doing] fried chicken. I mean, I'm lucky because I grew up in Miami, so I don't think I would have been as exposed to everything, all the culture, so when I moved here with Cuban food, the other cuisines I was exposed to like Jamaican food, Haitian food, Thai food, Vietnamese food, I think that's what I love the most.

Peruvian food is very diverse and also has a lot of inspiration from other cultures, including Chinese and Japanese cuisine. How do you incorporate these Asian influences into your cooking?

We're Chinese Peruvian, the first job [my dad] could find here was in a sushi bar and that's what he did, he slowly started to add our flavors into it. That's kind of how we got into that world. We incorporate it daily.

I mean, growing up as a Chinese Peruvian child is a little different than most. I think Peruvian people are just exposed to Chinese culture and Asian culture, really. I grew up with Chinese grandparents, so they made sure we were always very in touch with that side of our culture.

Growing up you watched your father cook at a sushi restaurant. In what ways do you think you apply what you learned from him into your own cooking style? In what ways are they different?

Well, I like more comida criolla (authentic), so I think that's where me, my dad and everybody just kind of separate and we look at things differently. That's what I love to eat, so that's the biggest difference.

I learned the craft of making sushi through my dad and my dad's just always like, "Put our head down and keep working no matter what, no matter what is around us and what may be going on." He started just to push through and the immigrant mentality of push, push, push, you'll get to wherever you need get to if you just continue to push.

As a Latina chef, what are your hopes for new generations of immigrants and their culinary traditions?

I think for immigrants to push forward and not to be told what to be. I feel like a lot of the times, especially Latinos, work really hard in these kitchens and never get to push forward because truly I don't think anybody really wants to take the time to teach them communication skills or sometimes a little bit of a lack of education. I always think that we should take the roles that have always belonged to the world that we've been working so hard in.

Why do you think it is important for chefs to put their culture on a plate?

So we never forget it. For me, it's important because I don't ever want to forget where I came from. I don't ever want to forget my roots. I don't ever want to not scream to the world that I'm a Chinese Peruvian chef.

I think if I didn't love the way I love my food, my culture, I think I could have just really focused on becoming American which is what you do when you first migrate here. Sometimes you forget where you come from, you know? It took me traveling back to Peru to be like, "This is who I am, this is my culture." I don't want my kids, whenever I have them, to forget where I came from ever.

As a business owner what has been your greatest challenge?

People. Working with so many different personalities and trying to make everybody feel heard, understood [and] appreciated while still keeping your cool.

Itamae was recently recognized by the Michelin star organization. How does it feel to have your team and your culture's food recognized by such a well-known institution?

It's amazing. It was about time. A lot of the things we've been able to reach have been positions that a lot of Peruvians have been able to reach, but not in Nikkei cuisine, not many Chinese Peruvians have been exposed to it. It's amazing.