This is one of my favorite features in Where Women Cook-Mamma Agata’s Cooking School on the Amalfi Coast of Italy (If ONLY I could have gone to the photo shoot!) Chiara came to the launch party and signing in NYC at Chelsea market and she is as warm and kind and beautiful as you would expect her to be. You can tell that the food she creates for her guests and students in Italy is liberally packed with love and happiness-which always makes a meal taste better!

Ciao! I’m Chiara Lima and my story begins with my family – it’s a story of a family with a passion for cooking simple and genuine food and sharing this passion with others. I am the youngest daughter of Agata Lima, who is known affectionately as “Mamma Agata.” I grew up smelling the divine scents of the traditional dishes of the Amalfi Coast in Italy wafting out from my mother’s kitchen. Mamma Agata has always cooked with love and respect, and has shared with me the deep belief that cooking is love.
Mamma Agata has been cooking since she was a young girl growing up in a large family on the Amalfi Coast. She began cooking for her family when she was 8 years old, and she has always taken her knowledge and respect for food very seriously. At only 13 years old, she began working as a private chef in the villa of a wealthy American woman who entertained many illustrious personalities in the 1950s and 1960s. She earned her nickname “Baby Agata” from Humphrey Bogart because she was so young. Hollywood stars, artists and famous politicians have raved about Agata’s cooking, which highlights regional ingredients and is always prepared simply and with love.
After nearly 6 years of travelling in Germany, England, Switzerland and Ireland, studying, making new friends and pursuing a successful career in the tourism industry abroad, I realized I was homesick and that it was time to bring this worldly knowledge home to my family. In 1994, I founded the Mamma Agata Cooking School on the Amalfi Coast to share my mother’s secrets for “Simple and Genuine” cooking. I so deeply wanted to reach out to as many people as possible and share with them how to cook with love and passion like Mamma Agata does every day, whether she’s cooking for our family, or friends … or even just our cat and dogs! Then, almost 5 years ago, I realized that I could share this message with an even larger audience with a cookbook. That is what drove me to write our cookbook Mamma Agata: Simple and Genuine, to and share our passion with the world! I feel deeply honoured that our cookbook has been loved by so many people already, and has recently been selected for the shortlist as the Best in the World for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards for 2010! Soon I will be off to the Paris Cookbook Fair on March 3, 2011 where the Best in the World Cookbook winner will be announced. It is a such an amazing experience knowing that our recipes and love have touched the hearts of so many people around the world!

Today my big joy is that we welcome students from all around the world – all ages and all different reasons for celebrations, but with one thing in common … the desire to cook with us with love and passion. Each and every one of our guests loves Mamma Agata, and my dear husband Gennaro Petti, a passionate chef and professional Sommelier, who has become an integral part of our tightly woven family. Gennaro’s love of cooking also began at a young age (8 years old – just like Mamma Agata! Life is really amazing!) when he cooked alongside his mother helping to prepare all the family meals. When he turned 15, he realized he would need money in order to pursue an education in engineering school, and so he took odd jobs during the summers to save money to pay for his tuition. His first summer job was in a butcher shop, where he learned all the secrets of meat, such as how to recognize quality meat products, how to clean and prepare the different cuts of meat, and lastly, how to preserve it or cook it properly.

The following summer, Gennaro went to work in a tomato production factory – a job so difficult that it made his hair fall out – literally! The factory was not air conditioned and it was unbearably hot in the summer months, especially with the canning equipment running. The only good thing that came out of this experience was that he learned as much as one can learn about tomatoes, from the selection process (good tomatoes vs. bad tomatoes) to the handling process. And the factory also preserved peaches and beans, so he learned a little about this, too. But destiny was knocking on his door, and after we met in 1994, we immediately knew that his passion for food and wine would be a perfect addition or our Cooking School. Since then he has cooked alongside Mamma Agata learning from her and sharing his love and passion through our cooking and wine classes. In recent years, he has cooked for Woody Harrelson, did cooking classes for Kurt and Brenda Warner, cooking class and wine classes for the famous football players Mark Schwarzer and Carlo Nash and, one of our absolute favourite memories, to Pierce Brosnan … our beloved James Bond!

Gennaro’s deep passion for cooking has also led him to study food and wine combinations, and to study for three long years to become a Certified member of the Associazione Italiana Sommelier (Italian order of the Sommelier). His wine cellar holds more than 100 bottles of fine wines, with an emphasis on wines from the Italian region of Campania. He continues to add new wines to his cellar whenever he has the opportunity to visit local wineries. Now Gennaro shares this passion and knowledge with Wine Tasting Classes at our cooking school.

But he did not stop there. Gennaro studied another three years to became a “Maestro degustatore di formaggio” – a professional cheese taster – and also a professional olive oil taster. He shares his intense passion for food, wine, cheese and olive oil during our cooking classes and in his wine tasting classes at the Mamma Agata Cooking and Wine School on the Amalfi Coast. Gennaro has become an important part of our family, cooking alongside my mother and sharing his unique knowledge, cooking experience and his passion for good food and wine. His touch is everywhere, from preparing and cooking, to making the wine we serve at our cooking school and even the limoncello, the lovely lemon liqueur that our guests rave about at the end of the meal!

I am blessed to have two beautiful children with my husband, our son Mario who is 9 years old and our daughter Paola who is 6 years old. We cook together in the kitchen as a family – three generations preparing and sharing meals together. Like I said, my story is a family story, one of love and passion and the simple and genuine joys of life. We have shared our family’s story and passion for cooking in our cookbook, Mamma Agata: Simple and Genuine. Our philosophy of cooking is simple, genuine and filled with love, and we invite you to share our recipes with your family!

To read more about our family, cooking classes and our cookbook, visit www.mammaagata.com or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MammaAgata.

With love, Chiara, Gennaro, Mamma Agata, Mario and Paola

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