As for my introduction to food and cooking, I will forever thank my mom for introducing me to the world of food. She brought me into the kitchen: unpack, store, and help her with the recipes she had in mind: peeling onions, garlic, prepping the green beans, washing the fresh herbs, blanching some veggies, and so forth and so on, surrounded by all the smells coming from those tasks. That was the only way I could earn pocket money. I landed in Boston in 1981,

and I had to cook to survive. All those memories for time spent in my mom's kitchen

came back, slowly but surely. During my time there in Boston, I deeply got involved

in all cuisines (I worked as a prep for free in the local Thai place restaurant). I was the one who created the Thai menu for the then Cities restaurant/night club in Adams Morgan on 18th St in the late 80’s. Besides French cooking, I also started to discover and really appreciate Latin Cuisine, Central America, Cuban and Puerto Rican, because my mentor. My father's side of the family is Italian from Genoa, I grew up with classic northern Italian cuisine. Cooking is like a Zen place for me: when I cook, I cannot really think of anything else: it is an art that needs and feeds on the whole of you. And I also love to teach and pass on the knowledge and the passion. Feeding people may be the very best job in the world.