Welcome, Benvenuti!

My name is Daniela and while I was born in Melbourne, Australia, I grew up surrounded by everything Italian. My mother is from Treviso, in the Veneto region of northern Italy, while my father is from Pescara in the Abruzzo region, located in the central part of Italy. We often travelled to Italy as children, and the food experiences are imprinted in my memory. I grew up with the most fantastic food imaginable, resulting from a marriage made in heaven that evolved from Veneto and Abruzzese cuisines. My mother is an exceptional cook, with a diverse repertoire. My husband is from the Friuli region in northern Italy and our many trips to visit his family have also enriched my food experiences. What is most poignant is that when in Italy, the main focus of every conversation is food!

While I have always been passionate about food, I also love science. As a young adult, I graduated with Honours from Melbourne University and  worked as a research assistant and then laboratory manager.  I eventually pursued a higher degree and received my PhD in Neurophysiology. I headed my own research laboratory for years, but became disillusioned with lack of research funding and decided to pursue a totally different career. Due to the enormous encouragement I received from friends and family who were always telling me I should delve into the food industry, I opened up a café in East Ivanhoe in 2015 and ran a very successful business for 3 ½ years. I was fully immersed in the business, and was head barista, baked on a daily basis to keep up with all of the cakes and biscuits that we sold in the café (there were up to 14 cakes and 7 types of biscuits on display every day), and worked together with my chefs in devising the menu. My motto was always to keep it simple and fresh but deliver on taste, and therefore we only used the highest quality ingredients. My baked ricotta tart was our best selling sweet, and while I ran the café I received hundreds of requests to start up cooking classes. Having recently sold the café, I have now cemented this dream of setting up classes from home, and am revelling in the enjoyment of imparting my love and knowledge of food to others. I hope you can join me!

We would like to acknowledge Fiona Cull Photography https://www.fionacullphotography.com for supplying some of the photographs used on this website and for her continuing expert guidance and advice.