Pía León

Pía León was born in Lima and studied at the Universidad de San Ignacio de Loyola's culinary school before co-founding Central alongside Virgilio Martínez, where she served as head chef for over a decade. In 2018 she opened Kjolle (pronounced 'khoy-yeh') — named after the kjolle tree (Polylepis) native to the Peruvian Andes, which grows at extreme altitudes and flowers orange — as her own creative platform for exploring Peru's native ingredients and biodiversity beyond the altitude-ecosystem framework of Central. She won the World's 50 Best Female Chef award in 2021, and Kjolle reached #9 World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2025, establishing her as one of the most important culinary voices in contemporary South American cooking.