STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Tasty, innovative food is important to Jorge de la Torre, the new lead chef instructor at the Sun Valley Culinary Institute. But so is the experience.

“My parents, who came to the United States from Bolivia, were fantastic cooks and they were quite adventurous when it came to food, always loving to try new restaurants,” he said. “I’ve eaten in cantinas in Bolivia and the French Laundry in California, always thinking, ‘Wow! This is unbelievable. I’ve been to Napa, the Sonoma Valley and was blown away by the whole experience. That’s what we try to teach students. The food is important but the experience—how you make people feel--is even more important.”

De la Torre started as the Sun Valley Culinary Institute’s new culinary director this past week, introducing himself to dozens of people who crowded into the historic brick building where the Institute is located during a Wagon Days Open House.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of New Mexico, which brought his father to the United States a generation earlier. He studied at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco before going on to work for Whole Foods in Denver, Vail Associates and Gallagher’s Steakhouse in New York.

He began his career as a culinary educator as chief instructor for The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia in 2001 and went on to serve as dean of culinary education at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island.

He also has dipped his kitchen knives into the nonprofit sector, having worked as director of culinary arts for the business incubator Kitchen Networks in Denver. He’s served on the board of Work Options, a nonprofit that teaches cooking skills to those coming out of prison.

He’s a board member of We Don’t Waste, which collects unused food to distribute to people in need. He’s also a council member of CHOW (Culinary Hospitality Outreach and Wellness), which deals with mental health in the culinary world.

His workplace included a coffee shop where he taught students to become barristas and a research center dealing with nutrition for those battling cancer.

“I taught classes with interpreters in four languages--Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Thai and Hispanic,” he said.

When de la Torre owned his own restaurant, he had a secret menu for the locals.

“When I worked in Hawaii, I offered discounts for Kama’aina, the locals. I told people, ‘Tell me what you want and I’ll make it for you.’ ”

De la Torre was lured to Sun Valley in part by his brother Carlos de la Torre, an architect, who moved here from Seattle four years ago when he realized during the pandemic that he could live and work here. De la Torre also knew Chris Kotke, who helped Sun Valley Economic Development Director Harry Griffith open the Sun Valley Culinary Institute.

“I fell in love with ski towns while working at Vail,” he said. “And I also love flyfishing, and that’s easy to do here.”

De la Torre also loves the concept of the Sun Valley Culinary Institute’s student program, which offers students in-class experience during their year-long program, as well as two paid opportunities to work at restaurants in Sun Valley, Ketchum and Hailey.

“What I like about the Sun Valley Culinary Institute is how accessible and affordable it is,” he said. “Culinary schools can cost $30,000 a year for four years but the Institute offers scholarships and apprenticeships and they come out ready to go without the debt that they might have had elsewhere.”