Gennaro Contaldo - Uniting Through Food

By Raquel Neofit

For Vanilla Magazine

I always get excited when the opportunity to interview Gennaro comes up, you just never know where the conversation will go!

GENNARO CONTALDO – Fast Cook Italian!

No stranger to sharing a heavily laden Mediterranean- style table, Gennaro is passionately encouraging us to stop thinking about how busy we are, and to make time to enjoy a home-cooked meal with your family and friends – even if you’re not a cook. Together with his partner Liz and his sister Arianna, he’s created a collection of dishes that anyone, anywhere, can create in under 40 minutes. The reason, he tells us, is because not only can you rustle up a fast and healthy meal in the time it takes to go out, but you can experience the joy of ‘breaking bread’ with your family and friends.

Underneath the sunny glass ceilings of Jamie’s Italian restaurant in the UK (yes, it really was a sunny day, he Facetimed me by surprise!), Gennaro spoke about the importance of a shared table and also the importance of sharing your love and your life with those around you and also with your children. ‘When you cook for your family, your husband, your children, they can see how much love, passion and time you’ve put into cooking for them,’ he said.

‘And teach your children to cook too. At the moment, all around the world, people are saying to me, ‘I don’t have time’, but we have to find the time. We find time to share with our mum and our dad and our children, so why not with food?’.

Everything he cooks in his book and on the television show Saturday Kitchen at the moment is quick, simple and delicious. ‘They’re quick, they’re easy, they’re healthy – everything you would expect an Italian mama to cook for her family. She has to move fast and she has to give them the best to ensure her children will enjoy eating – she is showing her love,’ he added.

Keep an eye on your screens later this year, Gennaro has recently wrapped up filming a journey through Italy with his favourite Claytons-son, Jamie Oliver, where they travel from north to south searching for the classic Italian recipes in an effort to ensure they are never lost. So with that in mind I just had to ask him what he recommends we add to our must-see lists next time we’re in Italy!

“Definitely the Amalfi Coast where I come from. Sicily is beautiful, and the small island of Aulia – the food is marvellous and the people are fabulous, and Rome, it's very, very important to visit Rome!”