| Ximena Torres | |
| Birth Name: | María Ximena Torres Carrera |
| Birth Date: | 1981 12, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Education: | |
| Television: |
|
| Children: | 2 |
Maria Ximena Torres Carrera (born 1 December 1981) is a Uruguayan chef, restaurateur, businesswoman and television personality. She has presented on different cooking shows, and has served as a judge on MasterChef Uruguay and its spin-offs since 2019.
Maria Ximena Torres Carrera was born in Montevideo on 1 December 1981, the daughter of Montserrat Carrera and Marco Antonio Torres.[1] She has two sisters, Carolina and Rossana.[2] She is of Catalan and Chilean descent.[3] Her maternal grandparents immigrated to Uruguay in 1950 from Sant Joan Despí, Catalonia, Spain, and founded the renowned Confitería Carrera food business.[4] Raised in the Pocitos barrio, Torres attended Queen's School and the Montevideo Pre-University Institute (PREU).[5]
Torres earned a degree in communication studies with a specialization as a publicist from the Catholic University of Uruguay. In 2003 she was awarded a scholarship to study fine arts at Valdosta State University, Georgia. She subsequently graduated as a sommelier from the University of the Republic, as a member of the first generation in 2007.[6] That year she settled for a season in Vic, Barcelona, where she took courses to become a professional in chocolate skills.
Torres began working professionally in gastronomy in 2000 and in catering in 2003. In 2012 she opened La Dulcería de Xime, a pastry shop and cafeteria located in the Punta Carretas barrio.[7] In subsequent years it expanded to different points in Montevideo and throughout Uruguay.[8]
In 2010 she made her debut on television, as the presenter of the culinary segment of the Teledoce morning show, Día perfecto.[9] The following year, her segment became the daily program La Receta Perfecta, in which Torres cooked different dishes accompanied by guests and two puppet characters making fun of different situations.[10] The show was on the air until 2014, when she decided to step away from television.[11]
In 2015, she published Comer y reír: manual para acercarse a la cocina con alegría, a book she co-authored with the presenter and comedian Manuela da Silveira, and in which they presented different tips and culinary proposals.[12] In 2017 she returned to the media, as co-host of the TV Ciudad cooking show, La vuelta al plato.[13] Broadcast for three seasons until 2019, the program consisted of making dishes from different parts of the world while learning about their history and their relationship with cultures.[14]
In February 2019 Channel 10 cast Torres as a judge of MasterChef Uruguay, as a replacement for Lucía Soria.[15] She was part of the fifth season of the version for amateur chefs and all four seasons of the spin-off featuring celebrities.[16] In July 2021, she joined the Subrayado newscast as a gastronomic journalism columnist.[17] In December 2020, she presented her cookbook, Casero es mejor, which in 2021 was awarded the best Latin American cookbook at the Gourmand Award in Paris.[18]
Torres met the musician Max Capote while she was hosting La Receta Perfecta, a program he attended as a guest, and a short time later they began dating.[19] They got married on 14 February 2014.[20] The couple have two children, Juan Jacinto (b. December 2017)[21] and María Guadalupe (b. August 2019).[22]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–2011 | Día Perfecto | Herself | Columnist |
| 2011–2014 | La Receta Perfecta | Presenter | |
| 2017–2019 | La Vuelta al Plato | Co-presenter | |
| 2019; 2024–present | MasterChef Uruguay | Judge; 5th Season | |
| 2020–2023 | MasterChef Celebrity | Judge | |
| 2021–present | Subrayado | Columnist |