LovexFood
Via Vecchia Pisana 22
Firenze, Lastra a Signa 50055
Tel: +39 348 606 9987 or +39 328 900 6773
Email: info@lovexfood.com
On my most recent trip to Florence, Italy, to do research for a feature article I'm writing for Passport Magazine, I booked a cooking class just 15 minutes outside of the city in the Chianti Hills.
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| Luca & Lorenzo photo credit: LovexFood |
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| photo credit: LovexFood |
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| photo credit: LovexFood |
This class is a total hands-on experience that even novices can handle.
Arthur: Luca & Lorenzo, how long have the two of you been sharing your passion for cooking and life, through your company LovexFood?
Luca & Lorenzo: We grew up in families in which
cooking is the best way to show the love you have for someone and we always enjoyed sharing our passion for cooking
with family and friends.
In 2016 we decided to turn it
into a job in the way we can do it with
people coming from all around.
We love to travel, we are tourist
as well so when we are on holidays we love to spend some time with locals
doing authentic activities. Our experience is exactly what we
expect when we are on vacation.
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| photo credit: LovexFood |
Lorenzo : We both worked in
fashion for several years. I was a designer for the visual merchandising
department for a worldwide fashion brand and Luca a brand ambassador for a luxury brand.
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| Look how beautiful our work stations are! |
Luca: A colleague told me about
a friend that was doing a cooking class with people that came here visiting
Tuscany… I
shared the idea with Lorenzo and we started thinking about it…usually we cook
for friends, so, why don’t we do it with other people?
Arthur: I know Lorenzo, you are
from Milan and Luca, you spent your childhood in Livorno, which is on the
Tuscan coast and you spent time on the Amalfi coast, where your mother is from.
Your recipes are those of your Grandmother’s and other relatives; so is your
cooking a type of fusion of the two areas or do you take turns sharing your
recipes?
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| photo credit: LovexFood |
Lorenzo: My relatives are
originally from Emilia Romagna, the land of the fresh pasta and from Tuscany. I grew up in Milan.
Luca: Yes I was born in Livorno, in Tuscany. My father is from Sicily and my mother from the Amalfi coast, so I spent a lot of time there.
Luca: Yes I was born in Livorno, in Tuscany. My father is from Sicily and my mother from the Amalfi coast, so I spent a lot of time there.
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| With their babies - Juno and her daughter, Joy photo credit: LovexFood |
Luca & Lorenzo: Our food
background, it comes from north and south, which are very different for several
aspects like food, traditions, dialects…our way of cooking is just bringing
back what we learned from our grandmothers and relatives.
For this aspect we are fully Italians and we strongly defend our food heritage, it means that we fight like an old couple deciding what to do during the cooking class and that means - compromise.
Arthur: The two of you are a couple, how and when did
you meet?
Luca & Lorenzo: We meet in a
fashion party during the Florentine Fashion week in January 2008, we fell in
love and we started sharing our lives together.
Arthur: What do you see in the
future for LovexFood? You’re both perfect for the screen, and your
personalities are very complimentary...do you ever dream of having a television
show?
Luca & Lorenzo: In the beginning we never thought
about it but a lot of people have suggested the possibility…YES why not?? It
sounds like a new exciting experience!!
Luca & Lorenzo: We are editing our family recipes
with the help of a new American friend that enjoyed our experience. We are
working on that…so probably yes.
Arthur: And you have a second
home on your property. You mentioned that you might turn it into a bed and
breakfast. Is that a real possibility?
Luca & Lorenzo: We recently bought a new property
near by our place and we’re thinking that we can involve that for the next
LovexFood project and one of the options is giving the possibility to rest in
our property even some nights. The Tuscan countryside is a magical place and will
be a memorable experience spending some time here and why not, cooking something
together?!
Pastas we made in our class were: ravioli
with pumpkin filling, bow ties, tortellini, rigatoni and potato gnocchi. We also
learned two different sauces. So easy and simple, even “non-cooks” would be
able to master these mouthwatering recipes.
One was an olive oil, butter and
fresh sage sauce and the other was a speck, brandy, chopped arugula, and cream
sauce.
Did I mention the wine kept flowing and flowing and flowing?
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| photo credit: LovexFood |
And keeping things fresh, the
eggs we used for cooking came from their own chickens - Regina, Pisola,
Tosca, and Mimma. And the herbs used in their
dishes are all from their garden. Can it get any fresher than that?
After enjoying Luca & Lorenzo's cooking class at their farmhouse, my fears, frustrations, and failure happily disappeared. Their knowledge, simple explanations, and patience fueled me to run back to New York City and recreate their delicious and traditional family recipes.
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| Our gang - Bud, Lorenzo, Michelle, Anthony, myself with a very full tummy and Luca! |
"We would like that people understand that ours is an unconventional cooking class...we share with people our what our families shared with us...spending some hours cooking with people as we are friends...usually we shake hands when we first meet you at the station...then we say goodbye with an Italian strong hug!!"
PS...We can't forget their 20 year old neighborhood kitty that keeps watch over the property!
Fino alla prossima volta!
