Comitato scientifico

Biography

Gigi and Marisa, known as Sorelle Passera, are two renowned food bloggers, authors, and TV personalities, famous for their ability to prepare simple and comforting recipes. Generi di Conforto (Tea Editore, 2018), the book they wrote together, is a collection of recipes from their past that convey their enthusiasm for cooking. This passion was instilled in them from a young age by their two grandmothers, who were very different women but united by their love for the kitchen. Since 2014, they have also maintained a blog, sorellepassera.com, where they share recipes interwoven with their own personal stories.

Biography

Quoting Virginia Woolf, Antonia Klugmann believes that the kitchen is "a room of one's own," a place of freedom and self-fulfillment. According to the Trieste-born chef, women should always put themselves in a position to excel and be successful, without any guilty feelings. Her restaurant, L'Argine a Vencò, located in the Collio Goriziano, earned a Michelin star in 2014 and is the result of years of study and hard work. There, she realized her dream of adding four suites to the restaurant by restoring a 17th-century mill. At her table, excellence goes hand in hand with sustainability, thanks to practices such as foraging (collecting wild herbs), daily shopping based on reservations, and the careful selection of ingredients.

Biography

Of Iranian father and Lebanese mother, Anissa Helou is one of the foremost experts in Mediterranean and Arabic cuisine, author of a celebrated book Feast (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018). After years as an art consultant, the Lebanese civil war led her to become a food writer. In 1994, she published Lebanese Cuisine (Griffin), a work that intertwines recipes with reflections on the convivial value of food, disrupted by the conflict. This upheaval prompted her to open Anissa’s Kitchen, a cooking school where she combines culinary tradition with Islamic culture. For her dedication, she was named one of the 100 most influential Arab women by Arabian Business in 2013.

Biography

Azzurra Rinaldi, a feminist economist and professor of Political Economy at the University of La Sapienza in Rome, specializes in issues such as the gender pay gap and women's empowerment. In her book Le signore non parlano di soldi (Fabbri Editori, 2022), she addresses the topic of women's wealth, discussing economics, gender discrimination, economic violence, and emancipation. In this book, she proceeds to dismantle the patriarchal economic system, highlighting its weaknesses and systemic errors, further demonstrating how relegating women to a secondary economic position actually ends up harming everyone, even the society that created this system.

Biography

Grace Young is a deep connoisseur of Chinatown (New York), and her work in support of its residents has had a significant impact in preserving this community, which remains an essential part of the city's cultural diversity. She has dedicated part of her career to studying and demystifying the wok, a traditional tool of Chinese cuisine, whose survival is threatened by the spread of non-stick cookware. She was the first food writer to write extensively about Wok Hei, a Cantonese cooking technique also known as "The Breath of the Wok," which involves cooking at extremely high temperatures, required by a wide variety of traditional dishes. For her efforts, she won the Julia Child Award in 2022.

Biography

Sofia Fabiani, born in Rome in 1988, has a diploma in chemical engineering and a background as a pastry chef. In October 2020, she launched her Instagram profile, @cucinare_stanca, brimming with irony and humour. Her recipes, biting reflections, and passionate stances on various current issues quickly earned her thousands of followers. Her first book, Cucinare stanca (Giunti, 2021), aims to provide anyone, regardless of their cooking skills, with the tools to survive not only in the kitchen but also in dating and relationships, all delivered with her distinctively witty style.

Biography

A chef from Salerno, since 2024 Viviana Varese has been leading the kitchen at Passalacqua on Lake Como, which was awarded the title of best hotel in the world in the 2023 50 Best Hotels ranking. After training with masters like Gualtiero Marchesi and the Roca brothers, she opened her first restaurant, Girasole, in the Lodigiano area. Her encounter with Sandra Ciciriello marked a turning point: in 2007, they opened Alice, which moved to Eataly in 2014 and was renamed VIVA Viviana Varese, earning a Michelin star. In 2022, she opened the pastry shop Io sono Viva, which supports women in need through CadMi, a charitable organization. A long-time advocate for inclusion, she received the "Champion of Change" award from the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Biography

From Como, Valentina De Santis has made her love for luxury and "Made in Italy" her mission. Her dedication earned her a spot in Forbes' list of the 100 most successful Italian women in 2019, and in 2022 she was awarded the title of "Hotelier of the Year." Today, she manages the Sales & Marketing area and strategic partnerships of her family's business, where she stepped into the role of CEO in 2014. The historic Grand Hotel Tremezzo, founded over 115 years ago in the charming village of Bellagio, hosts the only restaurant in the world with a menu entirely created by the legendary Gualtiero Marchesi, thus continuing his legacy.

Biography

Antonella Clerici is credited with bringing the world of cooking into TV programming and hence into every Italian home. Born in Legnano, near Milan, she debuted at RAI as a sports journalist, hosting popular programs like Dribbling and Domenica Sprint from 1989 to 1996, which made her a favorite among football fans. After leaving sports journalism, she turned to television cooking shows, finding her true calling with La prova del cuoco, which she hosted continuously from 2000 onwards, with a brief two-season interruption. Over the years, she established herself as one of Italy’s most prominent TV personalities, even hosting the Sanremo Festival in 2010. In the fall of 2018, she left her old cooking show and, starting September 28, 2020, began hosting È sempre mezzogiorno on RAI1.

Biography

Passionate about cooking and writing, Maria Teresa Di Marco contributed to the blog La cucina di Calycanthus. Created with the help of her friend Marie Cécile Ferré and photographer Maurizio Maurizi, it became a true gastronomic diary and a point of reference for food enthusiasts. Originally from Venice, Maria Teresa has lived in various cities, including Rovereto and Barcelona. In addition to her collaboration with Cook, she has published several cookbooks with Guido Tommasi Publishers, including Dolci calendari dell’Avvento (2014), Cucina vintage (2015), and La cucina siciliana (2016).