loveSicily

Never Imagined My Cooking School Could Inspire a Novel!

How many incredible things happened to loveSicily in 2013. Cooking classes in Sicily and in London, tours with new interesting partners, more wonderful guests, new collaborations with professional chefs.....but the most surprising thing was finding out that my cooking classes and I had inspired best selling author Nicky Pellegrino to write her latest novel about 'us': The Food of Love Cookery School

Nicky had come to one of my culinary tours a couple of years ago, we immediately felt a special connection. By chance it was an only women tour and in matters of hours we were all chatting like old friends. A year later I got an email from Nicky saying that her experience at the loveSicily cooking school in Modica had inspired her to write a novel and that she would have liked to feature some of my recipes in the book. However, there was a 'but', she explained: 'I kept your wonderful surname BUT turned you into a man!'. The story called for you to be a nice Italian chef named Luca. So in a second I went through a gender revolution;)!
Plus on the web now my Modica's Chocolate Chicken Recipe is known as Favio's Chocolate Chicken as the fictional name of Modica in the novel is Favio and the view from my cookery school is now "The View from Poppi's (one of the characters) window".
The book came out in August 2013, but as the year was so incredibly busy, I have not had the chance to publicly thank Nicky for the honor of being part of one of her books and for capturing the essence of my cooking classes, where cooking together is not just about the food, but especially about sharing life experiences.

You can listen to Nicky talking about her book and revealing I am actually a woman ;)!

About the story: "Luca Amore runs a cooking school in the Sicilian mountain town of Favio. He’s taught many people how to cook the dishes passed down to him by generations of Amore women. As he readies himself for yet another course he expects it to be much like all the others. He will cook, he will take his clients to visit vineyards and olive groves, they will eat together, become friends, and then, after a fortnight, they will pack up and head home to whatever corner of the globe they came from.
But there is a surprise in store for Luca.
This time there are four women booked in to The Food of Love Cookery School. Each one is at a turning point in her life. Each one is looking for something more than new cooking skills from her time in Sicily.
A divorcee, a widow, an exhausted working mum and an unfulfilled top London barrister come together for this idyllic escape into the sun-drenched Sicilian hills, and a tantalising culinary adventure. Sparks fly, friendships are made and secrets and stories are shared. Luca doesn’t realise it yet but this group of women is going to change his life. And for Moll, Tricia, Valerie and Poppy, after this journey, nothing will ever be the same."

This is so cool! Thanks Nicky and a big thanks to all my wonderful guests who keep in touch, come back to visit or plan new cooking adventures around the planet for me. Stay tuned for more incredible Sicilian culinary events as 2014 is loveSicily tenth anniversary. Cheers to You All!

Written on
January 28, 2014
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