Chef Maria Amalia Anedda: studies and vocation (part I)

2017-01-06 Poring over Private Law texts, Maria Amalia Anedda decided she didn’t really want to be a lawyer. If she had to memorise something, she was rather it were a recipe for a soufflé!
And it turned out to be the right choice. At the age of 26, the young chef from Parma was already a success. A few months ago she came third in a cooking competition between professional chefs on the television show “Top Chef Italia”, revealing her creativity and determination.
We meet her in the “old-fashioned” kitchen of her family home in the countryside just outside Parma. It’s a misty autumn afternoon, but Maria brightens it up with her irresistible smiles, characteristic of the people of Emilia, putting people in a good mood right away.
Maria, where does your love of cooking come from?
“Growing up in a good Emilian household where we always ate well; I have always loved food – and my figure shows it! I know, I could go on a diet, but I’m happy the way I am! My love of cooking is not academic, but is the result of a healthy passion for food, which I have managed, with some effort, to make into a profession. I studied at the classical lyceum and started to study Law... but I found it so confining to have to learn things by heart. I wanted to be freer. I am a creative spirit: I love art, poetry... And so, when I was almost twenty years old, and I realised how much studying it would take before I could become a lawyer, I changed my mind.”
And she told her parents she was going to register at Alma, the international Italian cooking school in Colorno.
“In my family, everyone has a degree, and so at first they tried to discourage me. But in the end I went ahead and registered. After getting my diploma in basic technique, I attended the two-year advanced Italian cooking programme. And here I really felt at home: finally I had found my place in the world! I have never been absent for even a single hour... I found it easy to study: my heart was in it, and I was really excited about being at Alma!.”
After graduating with a diploma from Alma at 22 with full marks …
“I went to work with Milanese cook Marco Viganò at “Aux Anges” restaurant in Roanne, near Lyon. Then I went to Paris, to work with the famous Alain Ducasse, the chef at “Jules Verne” restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, where I met Jacopo Bracchi, who is originally from Milan, and he became my partner.”
Their paths have never parted since.
“We’re the same age, but he has more work experience than I. We went together to “Il Vino” restaurant run by Enrico Bernardo in Paris, then to Bordeaux, to Agassac Castle amidst the Médoc vineyards. Here we were entrusted with all aspects of restaurant management. We had a little kitchen, only 12 square metres, and we were the only ones on the team. Despite a few initial difficulties, Jacopo and I worked very well together.” How do you complete one another? “As a couple, I am the creative, capricious one, while Jacopo is the organiser, the rational one, who brings my projects back down to earth and goes over my ideas to see if they’re really feasible. I like good, substantial things, while he is more of an aesthete, he pays more attention to the presentation of the dish, the differences in textures and colours.”

Mariagrazia Villa