Anna Colivicchi

Anna Colivicchi talks to a Preston-born chef about his career and his life, from his childhood in an orphanage to serving delicious food to VIPs at Wembley.

Until a couple of years ago, finding a vegan croissant—made without eggs, milk, or butter—in Italian cafes really seemed like an impossible task. Today, nearly every breakfast spot in Rome offers this option, as well as cappuccinos prepared with vegan milk substitutes. It’s an unmistakable sign that the green revolution has finally reached Italy. In the heart of Trastevere, the traditional restaurant and bakery Checco Er Carettiere proudly displays these delicious croissants as part of its glorious breakfast options. The owners attribute the expanded menu to their customers.

Amelia Christie-Miller, 28, from Swyncombe, says that beans not only taste good but can help tackle the climate emergency. She has launched the Bold Bean Co, selling jars of beans from Spain. The range includes organic white and butter beans and chickpeas and she hopes to expand it to offer British beans and borlotti beans. She said: “My obsession with beans started when I was in Spain on an Erasmus exchange. I was doing a lot of cooking and experimenting with fresh ingredients. One morning I was too hungover to go shopping and took a jar of creamy heirloom butterbeans out of the fridge. I remember eating them and thinking they were incredible and how tasty they were just by themselves. It transformed my view on beans."

A man and his teenage daughter who run a bakery in Watlington have been shortlisted for a book award, writes Anna Colivicchi. Alex and Kitty Tait wrote Breadsong: How Bread Changed Our Lives about the story behind the Orange Bakery in High Street. The book, which will be published in May next year, is one of three finalists for this year’s Jane Grigson Trust Award, which is made to a first-time writer of a book about food or drink which has been commissioned but not yet published. Kitty, 16, said: “I’m super excited — I can’t quite believe it’s all real.”

Ruled by the Montefeltro family since the 12th century, this area will surprise you with its charming castles, beautiful villages and delicious traditional food. It’s even the stuff of literary legend, since one powerful member of its ruling family, Guido da Montefeltro, makes a starring but infamous appearance in the Italian poet Dante’s The Divine Comedy.

Venice is one of those cities you can’t help but falling in love with. It’s eclectic, magical and mysterious. What’s shocking though, is that your perception of the city changes radically, according to the seasons: in winter, you are surrounded by mist and fog and you can’t see the boats in the canals, but you can hear them, honking their way through the Canal Grande;

Even though Italian Christmas traditions and meals are extremely different from North to South, it is common for all Italian grandmas, from Milan to Palermo, to spend between two and three days preparing food for the whole family. This includes tagliatelle, ravioli, roast beef, roast potatoes and panettone.

My sister loves to cook curry. Japanese style, the way an old lady cooked it for her when she visited Japan for the first time, last year. ‘This stuff is delicious, you must try it,’ she told me. My sister would make the sauce and my mum would fry chicken breast, so we could have chicken katsu curry: sticky white rice, crispy chicken and the thick sauce on top. They prepared it for me the day before I moved to England to start a new job and we ate it together, sitting on the sofa, watching an episode of my mum’s favorite crime TV series.