Italian Cuisine in Lucca

Sometimes I think I am an anomalous Italian woman.

First of all, I can’t play any musical instrument. The door bell is not a musical instrument..

Second, I cannot sing except “tanti auguri a teeee!!!” (happy birthday to youuuu!!!)

And then.. I can’t cook.. I am totally poor in cooking! A brother of mine used to say that I was able to burn the water too!!! (on the other side.. I like eating and I am very demanding when I eat out).

A couple of years ago I had the chance (with other nice persons) to attend to a cooking professional course both because I wanted to learn cooking and to improve my knowledge about local food. The Chef and teacher was Gianluca Pardini and the school was the International Academy of Italian Cuisine in Vicopelago among the hills near Lucca.

It has been an extraordinary experience: a lot of lessons in the equipped cuisine of Gianluca, a lot of talking about food and tradition, about the best season for the ingredients, a lot of experimentations trying to transform food into meal.. An extraordinary experience was also looking at Gianluca dealing with food and people.

Well.. Gianluca is a wonderful Chef and teacher but he is not a wizard so he succeded in making me better in cooking (I can say I am a good Chef assistant now), but not in changing me into a real Chef!

Today, after a lot of time, by sheer coincidence, I meet again Gianluca because Wednesday he will be teaching to a group of really nice persons from USA that I guided in Lucca the day before!

And talking about collegues and plans and changes… we decided mix our areas of expertise to create and propose experiences that can mix the art of Lucca and the art of cuisine.

So.. stay tuned: August in Lucca will be gorgeous!

Some feedbacks about Gianluca on Tripadvisor

some of the things I prepared with Gianluca are in the pictures 🙂