Born in Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula
Advancing regenerative gastronomy through people, place, and purpose.
Our Story
Born in Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, one of the world’s original Blue Zones, Autóktono was created by social entrepreneur and marketing strategist Carlos A. Coriano and Chef Randy Siles Leandro, Ambassador of the Essential Costa Rica Country Brand and first Chef Ambassador of the National Plan for Sustainable and Healthy Costa Rican Gastronomy.
Our mission is to inspire, educate, and empower a new generation of cooks to transform local community food systems through sustainable, healthy, and regenerative gastronomy.
Our Philosophy
1. Protecting and respecting natural resources
2. Preserving cultural identity and culinary heritage
3. Promoting research and innovation through local ingredients, biodiversity, and ancestral knowledge
4. Educating and transferring culinary knowledge to future generations
5. Enhancing the social, economic, environmental, health, nutrition, and well-being of local communities and destinations
THE TEAM
RANDY SILES LEANDRO
Co-Founder
Randy Siles Leandro is a Costa Rican chef, educator, and leading voice in regenerative gastronomy. Ambassador of the Essential Costa Rica Country Brand and first Chef Ambassador of the National Plan for Sustainable and Healthy Costa Rican Gastronomy, he has dedicated his career to advancing a cuisine rooted in identity, territory, biodiversity, culture, community, and planetary well-being. As co-founder of Autóktono and founder of Artesanos de la Gastronomía, Randy helps train a new generation of cooks to become agents of change through education, research, and community-based action. His work bridges agro-marine cuisine, local producer networks, ancestral knowledge, responsible fishing, and regenerative agriculture. Through his culinary leadership, Randy advances gastronomy as a force for enhancing community well-being, ecosystem vitality, local food systems, and the regenerative relationship among people, place, and planet.
View full awards and accolades
Awards & Accolades
- Chef and Guest Speaker at HIC Ibiza Summit 2025
- Chef and Guest Speaker at the eighth edition of Orígenes Gran Canaria Me Gusta, 2025
- Featured Guest Chef at the 29th International Gourmet Festival 2024, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
- Awarded the prestigious Contributions to the Improvement of Quality of Life Award 2024
- ESENCIAL Costa Rica Brand Ambassador, 2024
- Director, Host and Speaker of the Sustainable Gastronomic Congress Costa Rica 2023 created by Enjoy Hotels. The symposium was the first of its kind in Costa Rica to feature Michelin-starred chefs.
- Launch and Director of the Enjoy Hotels Culinary Academy, 2023
- Guest Speaker and Chef, Diego And Friends, 2023
- Guest chef at the International Congress of Healthy and Sustainable Gastronomy “Gastronomix”, 2023
- Guest speaker at the Vallarta Nayarit Gastronómica, 2022
- First chef in the Americas to be named President of the prestigious International-Club Les Toques Blanches, 2022
- Guest speaker at the 6th International Conference on Sustainable Tourism: Planet, People, Peace – P3, 2020
- Guest speaker at the Sustainable Cuisine Gastronomic Festival in the framework of PLANETA 21 celebrating in Colombia, 2020
- Inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier International in France, 2019
- Inducted in the prestigious Les Toques Blanches International Club in France, becoming the first Latin American chef to receive this prestigious recognition, 2018
- Showcased Costa Rican gastronomy at the three-star Michelin Restaurant Christophe Bacquié, becoming the first tico chef to cook in the company of prestigious French Michelin-starred chefs, 2018
- Named Ambassador Chef for Costa Rica of the prestigious Cook & Chef Institute, 2018-Present
- Named among “Central America’s most creative” in 2017 and 2018 by Forbes Magazine–Central America.
- Named among the world’s top 50 chefs by the 2017 Miami Food and Wine Festival, next to acclaimed Italian Chef Massimo Bottura and the legendary Japanese “Iron Chef” Masaharu Morimoto.
- First Latin American chef to participate in the New York Times Travel Show, 2017
- Named first Ambassador of the National Plan for Costa Rican Sustainable and Healthy Gastronomy, 2015
CARLOS A. CORIANO
Co-Founder
Carlos A. Coriano is a PhD candidate in Food and Nutrition at the Universitat de Barcelona, where his research focuses on regenerative gastronomy.
Carlos has more than 25 years of experience as an integrated marketing strategist across the tourism, hospitality, gastronomy, and wellness sectors. He is the founder of NovaVision Marketing, a consulting firm specializing in integrated marketing strategy and communications.
Carlos is a graduate of New York University, where he earned master’s degrees in Direct and Interactive Marketing and Tourism Management. He has also served as a university professor and authored publications for the Travel and Tourism Research Association, Mintel, and Thrive Global.
