When Nature Becomes Your Kitchen
Picture this: you’re standing at the edge of an active volcano, feeling the intense heat radiating from bubbling lava, and someone is actually using that molten rock to cook your dinner. Sounds crazy, right? Well, meet the extraordinary chefs who’ve turned this wild idea into reality. The fanciest professional ovens only go up to about 750 degrees Fahrenheit, but lava comes out of the furnace at a scorching 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. “It is the heat that most chefs dream of,” says one chef. These culinary daredevils aren’t just seeking attention – they’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the kitchen. Think about it: while most of us complain when our oven takes too long to preheat, these chefs are literally harnessing the Earth’s core to create unforgettable meals. It’s like cooking with the universe’s most powerful stovetop, and the results are absolutely mind-blowing.
The Pizza Pioneer of Guatemala
Mario David García Mansilla became fascinated with the Pacaya volcano in 2010, when the volcano exploded spectacularly, spewing bright-red flaming rocks over the roofs of San Vicente Pacaya and nearby villages. But where others saw destruction, this accountant-turned-chef saw opportunity. “The first thing you feel, it’s the intense heat, like going into a sauna,” García recalls. “And the noise is like a seven-engine plane: deafening.” Right there, he decided that he would never move away from the 16,000-person town of San Vicente Pacaya. Most people would run from an erupting volcano, but Mario ran straight toward it with a backpack full of pizza ingredients. García Mansilla regularly hikes to the volcano’s top carrying about 60 pounds of ingredients and equipment on his back to meet tourists who have made a reservation. García Mansilla strongly recommends setting up a previously agreed visit via his Facebook page or WhatsApp. Can you imagine calling an Uber to pick you up from an active volcano after dinner?
The Art of Volcanic Pizza Making
He assembles the pizza using previously kneaded dough and bakes it for about 14 minutes. When he cooks on top of still-hot lava, the process only takes a couple of minutes, as the magma can reach up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Mario’s technique is surprisingly sophisticated for something that sounds so primitive. He either places the tray in one of the many oven-like caves on Pacaya, or simply sets it down on the hardened lava next to the slow-flowing river of melted rock. The latter is more strenuous on his feet, as even with military-style boots on, they are subjected to extreme heat. Imagine explaining to your insurance company that you burned your feet while making pizza! The learning curve wasn’t easy either – the first time he tried using the intense heat emanating from the volcano to cook pizza, Mansilla burned it to a crisp. The second one came out just as bad, but his third was a perfectly cooked masterpiece, with a golden crust and covered in melted cheese. He had found the perfect dish to cook on Pacaya.
The Business Behind the Lava
Mario David García Mansilla took no less than 5 years to turn his passion for pizza into a business, and Pizza Pacaya finally opened in 2019. After first cooking pizza with lava as a hobby, García turned Pacaya Volcano into a business. Running a restaurant on an active volcano isn’t exactly what they teach you in business school. If you visit when Pizza Pacaya is open on a group tour, you can order a pizza for $35 for a small, $45 for a medium, or $55 for a large. DEFINITELY on the pricey side, but the dude literally carries up all the ingredients and equipment on his back. The prices might make your wallet feel like it’s been hit by lava, but honestly, where else are you going to get pizza cooked by the Earth itself? With hundreds of people visiting Pacaya volcano on a daily basis, Pizza Pacaya is almost never without customers. It’s run by a 34-year-old chef and accountant from the local village of San Vicente Pacaya, and the restaurant’s exact location changes based on where lava is cooling on any given day.
The European Volcano Restaurant Pioneer
While Mario might be the pizza pioneer, he’s not the only one cooking with volcanic heat. The chefs at the El Diablo Restaurant on the island of Lanzarote have a one of a kind kitchen: a volcanic hole in the ground. A giant grill is laid across the opening, where 6 feet below, the gentle giant is softly bubbling lava at 400 degrees Celsius. El Diablo has been serving volcano-cooked meals since way before Mario even thought of his first pizza. In 1970, César Manrique, a local artist, decided to create an official restaurant in the region. With the help of the architect Eduardo Cáceres and the artist Jesus Soto, a giant grill was built on the ground in order to use the incredible heat beneath the surface of the Earth. This is how the restaurant El Diablo was born. The construction wasn’t exactly straightforward either – architects had to lay 9 layers of basalt rock in lieu of digging down to build a foundation. All this heat on the surface made it impossible to dig foundation trenches. So they laid nine layers of basalt rock to serve as a base for the structure.
What’s It Like Eating Volcano-Cooked Food
So here’s the million-dollar question everyone’s dying to know: does food cooked on a volcano actually taste different? With that kind of heat, the steak charred on the outside, while remaining a perfect medium-rare in the center. And they didn’t get any of the gases you’d get if you were cooking over an open gas, charcoal or wood flame altering the flavor. Some diners have mixed opinions though. One visitor said “My food was good! I got canary potatoes and mojo sauces. The meat tasted like a grilled piece of meat – there was no ‘special extra taste’ that it was made over a volcano”. It’s like the ultimate grill marks, but from the planet itself! The experience is probably more about the incredible story you get to tell afterward than any magical volcanic flavor. One reviewer noted “It had a tasty charred flavour from being cooked over the volcano. It was served with half a jacket potato topped with mojo sauce, some cabbage and a light gravy. It was enjoyable enough but didn’t wow us”.
The Science Behind Cooking with Lava
Cooking food with volcanic heat and lava is possible because of its intense heat, which can get around 2000° F. This means that special equipment, like shovels, gloves, and other personal protective equipment, is a great idea to use when pursuing this cooking method. It’s basically like having nature’s most powerful oven, but one that could potentially kill you if you’re not careful. Volcanologists use the furnace to study lava flows; it’s a far safer environment for this kind of research than the side of a volcano. They have constructed their own artificial volcano – a furnace that takes 1.1 billion-year-old basaltic rock and heats it up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists have actually gotten involved to make sure this crazy cooking method is safe. The restaurant has consulted scientists and volcanologists to check the food and the way it is grilled, and they have given them their green light, judging the dishes on offer to be healthy. So there is no danger for this type of cooking. Still, I’m pretty sure your mom would have some serious concerns about your dinner plans!
The Extreme Dining Experience
Eating at these volcanic restaurants isn’t just about the food – it’s about the entire surreal experience. The unique method of cooking attracts a lot of tourists to dine at El Diablo. This won’t be the best meal you eat in Lanzarote, but it will be one of the most unique. This isn’t just because the meats are grilled over the hot volcano, but because of the mesmerising views across the lava fields. The atmosphere is literally otherworldly. The restaurant gets super warm. Since it’s located on a volcano that still is producing heat, the restaurant has a quite high temperature inside so no need to bring a sweater. Imagine posting on Instagram: “Dinner was lit tonight… literally by molten lava!” If the thought of trying to eat your salad as fire shoots in the air and lava spews out of the dining room deters you, fear not. This dormant volcano has been peacefully gurgling below the surface since its last eruption in 1824. Though “peacefully gurgling” and “volcano” are words that probably shouldn’t go together in the same sentence.
The Global Volcanic Cooking Movement
Volcanic cooking isn’t limited to just Guatemala and Spain. Twice a day, vans from local restaurants pull up to the hot springs that border Lagoa das Furnas in the Azores. The recipe for cozido das furnas is simple: It’s typically a hearty combination of beef, chicken, pork, sausage, potato, taro, cabbage, kale, and carrots that have been seasoned only with salt. But the time spent cooking in the gentle geothermal heat yields juicy, pull-apart meat and tender, ever-so-slightly salty vegetables. It’s like nature’s own slow cooker, but with way more style points. Even in Bolivia, one of the last remnants of the mountain’s fiery past are its volcanic rocks. Today, Potosí’s restaurants use these nuggets to cook k’alapurka, a corn flour-based soup that comes with potatoes and fried pork or jerky. These chefs around the world have figured out that when life gives you volcanoes, you don’t just make lemonade – you make an entire restaurant empire! The movement is growing, and honestly, regular ovens are starting to look pretty boring in comparison.
The Challenges of Volcanic Cooking
Running a volcano-powered kitchen comes with some unique challenges that your typical restaurant doesn’t face. It takes 60 to 70 hours for the furnace to melt all that rock into lava. Once the lava cooled down a bit, they all roasted some marshmallows and enjoyed s’mores. Imagine having to wait three days just to preheat your oven! When lava started flowing from a newly formed fissure in late April, García started cooking directly over the still-melted rocks. “When I do it this way, when I go back home at the end of the day, I have to put my feet in salted water,” he says. “The heat is too high”. The occupational hazards of being a volcanic chef include potentially melted boots and the need for serious foot therapy after work. There’s one catch though – Pizza Pacaya has no set schedule whatsoever and is closed more days than it’s open. Chef Garcia Mansilla usually ONLY makes the trek up the volcano when people pre-book private tours. Talk about exclusive dining – you literally have to make an appointment with a volcano!
The Safety Measures and Precautions
Before you pack your bags for a volcanic dining adventure, it’s important to understand the safety measures these extreme chefs take. Wearing protective gear, military-style boots, and a backpack containing some 60 pounds of equipment and ingredients, he bakes pizza, usually for customers who made reservations. These aren’t your typical chef uniforms – think more along the lines of volcano explorer meets Iron Chef. Today, customers can make reservations to enjoy a meal that requires full protective gear to make. The fact that the chef needs protective gear just to prepare your meal should give you some idea of how extreme this cooking method really is. When asked about doing volcano cookouts, one chef says “Only taking all precautions. Or call us up, we are ready to grill”. Safety first, delicious volcano-cooked food second – which is probably the right priority order when dealing with molten rock temperatures that could melt your face off.
The Future of Extreme Culinary Adventures
According to one chef, they have devised a way to transport the five-ton artificial volcano to London. And they hope to soon launch a “lava banquet” service. All you need to book it is a month’s lead time and a minimum of 500 guests. Imagine getting that wedding catering quote! The future of volcanic cooking is expanding beyond just these remote locations. The temporary “Forces of Nature” restaurant used the power of the 2,462°F lava surrounding them to cook for the daring diners. The unbelievable scene was produced by experimental creatives at London-based Bompas & Parr studio, utilizing research from a leading expert in molten rock. Pop-up volcano restaurants are becoming a thing, bringing the extreme dining experience to different locations around the world. These culinary pioneers are proving that when it comes to cooking, the sky’s the limit – or in this case, the Earth’s core is the limit. “You really want the diner to say, ‘Wow, that’s impressive,'” says one volcanic chef. Mission accomplished, because nothing says “impressive” quite like risking third-degree burns to make your dinner!
From Mario’s pizza adventures on Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano to the established volcanic grills of Spain’s El Diablo, these culinary daredevils are redefining what it means to cook with fire. They’re not just making food – they’re creating experiences that most people wouldn’t dare dream of. The next time you’re complaining about your gas bill or waiting for your oven to preheat, remember there are chefs out there literally cooking with the Earth’s molten core. What would you be willing to risk for the perfect meal?
