Once upon a time there was a little girl who fell in love with food. She was enchanted by the Italian and Lebanese delicacies her mother and father lovingly prepared at home and fascinated with the way simple ingredients were transformed — by a kind of magical alchemy — into extraordinary flavors, textures and visual delights. The girl wanted not only to taste this amazing food, she wanted to learn how to make it for herself. From that moment on, this became her secret passion in life.
The girl grew up and went off to art college where she used her whimsical fantasy to draw, paint and photograph. Soon she became an Art Director at a fancy advertising agency creating charmed campaigns for big clients who rewarded her with lots of professional accolades and financial success. But the girl wasn’t happy. Something was missing in her life. All the material things she could buy didn’t matter to her any more. She craved a more delicious life with genuine quality, not quantity, and like-minded people to enjoy it with — the kind she had growing up in her family home. She had fallen under a spell that beckoned her from afar…
So the girl, now a young lady, did a very daring thing. She quit her job, bid farewell to her family and set off all alone on a journey to the far away land her grandparents came from called Italy. There she hoped to find her one true love. And she did! Everyone in Italy was just like her — they adored food and ate, cooked and talked about it all the time. The good people of the kingdom welcomed the young lady back to her ancestral homeland and taught her to live “la bella vita” — the Italian good life — and how to make one of her very own.
Every day for 20 years, the young lady watched, listened, and learned from the very best teachers in Italy then cooked, cooked, cooked to her heart’s content. She got married, had two beautiful children and created the quality lifestyle she dreamed of… only better!
Then one day the lady decided it was time to go back to the United States, so she packed up her Italian family and moved to California. Soon after she arrived, the good people of San Francisco heard about her cooking skills and asked her to prepare elaborate feasts for their royal courts. Then they begged her to share with them the secrets of Italian cooking. Before long, many customers and students appeared on her doorstep and she was even invited to cook on television. They dubbed her “The Italian Chef” and she was recognized as an authority on the food she secretly dedicated her life to so long ago.
Now she wanted to share her fairy tale with even more people so, using the magical powers bestowed upon her, she conjured up a cooking blog with recipes, stories and photos to teach people across the land how to create a delicious lifestyle and inspire them to live la bella vita happily ever after… just like she did once a upon a time.
~ Only the beginning….
IN A NUTSHELL:
Ciao, I’m private chef and Italian cooking instructor Deborah Dal Fovo.
You can usually find me in the kitchen preparing sumptuous meals for my clients or creating new recipes and menus to teach students. I love taking photos of my food and all the photos on this website are mine unless otherwise noted. My recipes and cooking videos have been featured on TV shows like View from the Bay, Good Cooking with Bruce Aidells, Cooking for the Clueless, and I teach at many cooking schools in the U.S. When I’m not in the kitchen, you’ll find me kicking up my heels dancing the West Coast Swing, hanging out in Italy soaking up inspiration for my work or enjoying “la bella vita” with my two wonderful children in California.
For business inquiries, please contact me at info@deborahdalfovo.com