L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano the likes of volume food service, colleges, universities, hospitals, k-12 schools, military, chefs and supermarkets. Distributors such as Sodexo, Sysco, Premier Inc., as well as major purchasing groups are all "connected" to the project. It might be a pure coincidence that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for the first time men- tioned the Mediterranean Diet as a healthy model and lifestyle. Or maybe not, as some of the 2015 speakers were important spokespeople in Washington D.C., in the fields of health and nutrition. What are the new ingredi- ents of this second edition in L.A.? What are the criteria behind the choice of the Beverly Hills Public Library, as venue for the event? In the "Big Apple", the chosen venue was the historical building, which hosts the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). California has about 39 mil- lion inhabitants, that is more than the entire Canada. It is a great market, and it also boasts the most Mediterranean climate, out- side the Mediterranean basin, which calls for a similar lifestyle. This year, the organizers chose a "neutral" space - not a Consulate or an ethnically-con- noted location – in Los Angeles, one of North America's most affluent cities, with significant impact in setting trends. Do you like cooking? What is your favorite dish? I am not a chef, but I enjoy THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 4 cooking and, especially, savoring good food with friends and fami- ly. I am a native of Abruzzo, region of Italy, and I grew up, surrounded by great cooks, who refined my appreciation of good ingredients. I am definitely a "buona forchetta," as we say in Italy! Dear readers, earlier I promised you a choir of "dis- parate voices" and here it is. One of the panelists and interpreter of media's role in the image of Mediterranean diet, is cook/author and TV personality, Amy Riolo. How was your upbringing in an Italian-American house- hold? I am a fourth generation American. My family hails from Southern Italian region of Calabria. On my father's side, they come from Crotone, while, on my mother's, they come from Reggio Calabria. Italian food and culture, as well as the centrality of family, are all elements, which were passed down to me. Currently, when I talk to my students, or I address my readers, I emphasize that we didn't use to go to the movies, or play together in my family. We used to cook, bake bread, make wine and have our meals as a family. We even exchanged food as gifts, during holidays. My friends viewed that as a strange practice, but it was totally normal to us. My cousins from Calabria used to bring us some hand-made cheese or liquor. In exchange, when they were about to leave, I could only give him something, bought at the local mall. In that moment, I realized the importance of making something with our own hands. What motivated you to pur- sue a career in culinary arts? My career is a direct conse- quence of the way I grew up. I would have not been happy in any other job. I learned different aspects of cooking from each one of my rel- atives. My father didn't work in the food industry, nor he is a cook. However, he is a real gourmet. Besides, he is passionate about history and, whenever we watched together historical docu- mentaries on National Geographic and similar networks, he used to wonder about the food habits of people from other parts of the world. This is what caused me to research anthropology. My mom used to cook and bake. She also catered food to large groups of people and I start- ed to help her, from a very early age. My grandmother used to bake different types of bread and cook- ies, according to different festivi- ties. Our relatives owned bakeries in Calabria, as well. For that rea- son, I was never afraid of baking. My grandfather, from my father's side, was a military cook during WWII. He encouraged me to cook, without looking at recipes and how to substitute with missing ingredients. Over time, I've learned to make the most of the ingredients at my fingertips. Tell us more about your pro- fessional collaboration with Italian chef/restaurateur, Luigi Diotaiuti. I met him several years ago. Then, four years ago, through the intercession of mutual friends, we started to co-write his cook book, titled "The Al Tiramisu Restaurant Cookbook: An Elevated Approach to Authentic Italian Cuisine." We complement each other perfectly, because he is a success- ful restaurant owner and I teach people how to be better cooks at home. Together we represent all sides of the industry. In this past years, we have been leading a culinary cruise, as well as holding cooking classes, seminars, demonstrations, and lectures. We just finished to edit a siz- zle reel for a national TV show on cultural culinary travel, which we'll be hosting together. Chef Luigi Diotaiuti is also a certified sommelier, so he helped me to pair my dishes, in my Italian Diabetes Cookbook, with the appropriate wine varieties. Tell us, in a nutshell, what's your speech topic at the Mediterranean Diet Roundtable? I talked with other panelists about the current perception of the Mediterranean diet in the media. One of them was Chef Gino Campagna, a globetrotting chef, hailing from Parma (in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna) and now residing in L.A., who has been dedicating his life to teach children how to prepare and appreciate delicious and healthy food. The second was Janet Zappala, winner of multiple Emmy Awards for her news reporting, and a certified nutritional consul- tant. Last but not least, Chef Lee Knaz advocated the return to an healthy eating, through the deli- cious dishes offered by his com- Chef Luigi Diotaiuti and chef Amy Riolo. Photo Courtesy of A. Riolo LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY Continued from page 3 Prof. Eugenio Luigi Iorio in his lab, at the International Observatory of Oxidative Stress (Salerno). Photo Courtesy of E. L. Iorio Continued to page 5

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