I love to discover new flavours and techniques for transforming food, especially those derived from traditional home cooking methods.
As a chef, author, teacher and researcher, I am inspired by the different expressions of both nature and human beings: the beauty of the plant kingdom, alternation of the seasons, botanical differences in different geographical areas, art, anthropology, “natural” cuisine and plant-based cooking.
I experience the kitchen as a scientific laboratory, an artistic and human workshop accessible to all, where it is possible to practice autonomy, collaboration and decision-making.
The transformation of simple ingredients into a good dish is the beginning of a subtle and profound change in the one who is eating it.
I have been the head chef at Centro Natura Vegetarian Restaurant in Bologna since 2004. From 2011 I have been responsible for defining the menus, researching new, good quality recipes and ingredients and coordinating the quality control.
Since 2005 I have been giving lectures on vegetarian cooking. My lectures are based on Italian traditions and also inspired by plant-based cooking traditions from all over the world.
Since 2016 I have been the director and one of the teachers of the first professional course for Veg-Vegetarian Chef in Italy.
I am currently preparing the 4th edition of this professional course that will take place from November 2018 to February 2019.
I wrote Vegetaliana, note di cucina italiana vegetale, Damster, Modena 2014 and have contributed to several books:
Sapori vegetali dell'Emilia Romagna, in the Chinese e-book AA.VV. Viaggio alla scoperta dei sapori italiani: Eccellenze gastronomiche dell'Emilia Romagna, Damster Modena, 2015;
Pionieri della tradizione, secondo natura, in Stefano Andrini (editor), I segreti della cucina dell'Emilia Romagna, Giubilei Regnani, Cesena, 2016.
I was born in Sardinia, into a family where the food was grown and transformed. Homemade sardinian bread, for instance, began with the production of the wheat, transformation into flour, fermentation with sourdough and then baking in the wood-fired oven. All the different types of traditional pastas, sweets, cheeses, cured meats, olive oils, olives in brine and so on were also homemade.
In 1984 I moved to Bologna, where I met pioneers of the natural food movement and macrobiotics. This brought me from traditional food to very sophisticated and educated approach to food. This was the beginning of my research on food as a prevention and remedy for illness, as an element that can balance humans and their environment. I later went to Amsterdam to deepen my knowledge of macrobiotics, working and studying at the Kushi Institute of Europe.
In the meantime, I graduated in History of Cinema and Film Restoration at Dams (Disciplines of Arts, Music, Cinema and Theatre, 1994) and in Cultural Anthropology (2010), at Bologna University.
I am a kind and determined person. I greatly enjoy working in a group and I am very much interested in human relationships.
I love to share my experiences and I firmly believe in the importance of a permanent education.