The story of Francesca Orlando is the point of convergence of all the ingredients of success: curiosity and study, passion and dedication, creativity and experimentation. In this interview, the writer recounts her journey, between goals achieved and dreams yet to be realized.
How would you describe yourself?
I am a woman who has not lost the heart and spirit of a child. And that is the essence I put into everything I do.
It was my philosophy degree that taught me that. The wonder and awe of the early Greek philosophers is what characterizes children. I have been fortunate to retain that ability to wonder and amaze. There was a time when I did not consider it as fortunate as I do today, because awe and wonder always went hand in hand with being too emotional. Then I realized that being emotional means having the great ability to feel emotions, and I made a craft out of those emotions: writing, communication.
I am a freelance journalist and have always worked in the world of journalism and communications until my love for food and wine, which now sees me linked to industry editorial projects and the wonderful role of lecturer in food writing.
Where did the passion for food and wine and the passion for writing come from?
The passion for writing I think was born along with me. For as long as I can remember, and therefore since childhood, I have always written. You know, everyone is born with a gift, an innate art: mine is the pen.
And it is not a self-celebration. A gift is not only something that comes to us instinctively, it is above all something without which you cannot live, and which helps you feel good; something without which you feel you are not complete. Writing has saved me so many times in life and is the true and only medium through which I can tell my story, express what I feel and, likewise, tell about others. Taking writing away from me would be like taking away my air. That for food and wine, on the other hand, is a passion born with the years. Until adulthood, let's say until my 30s, I never had much of a relationship with food. Then something snapped inside me, absurdly also thanks to a lactose intolerance that forced me to review my diet and made me realize how much food and psychophysical well-being are connected. I started reading, studying, and what fascinated me, indeed enraptured me, was the realization of how through culinary traditions we can tell and pass on the cultures of places. I like to tell stories, and I realized that I wanted to be one of the voices bearing witness to the wonderful food and wine traditions of our Italy. The next step, of course, was to learn more about the history of food and wine and my starting to tell the stories and the kitchens of restaurateurs.
How did you begin your path to becoming a food and wine journalist?
I have been a freelance journalist since 2000 and have always worked with various newspapers, from local dailies to Sole 24 Ore to monthly business and culture magazines. On the one hand, dedicating myself to food and wine journalism has meant moving to a different and specific subject, having already had journalistic training and experience; but on the other hand, it has obviously required studying the field, techniques, and cuisine. Writing about food and wine, like all professions after all, is not something you make up overnight: study and experience are fundamental and indispensable. Moreover, I would like to emphasize that being a food and wine journalist does not mean being a food and wine critic. I am not a critic; I like what I call "food and wine storytelling." As I told you, I love to tell stories, the real and engaging ones about places and people in the world of food and wine.
How important has the training with Italian Food Academy been for you? What did it give you?
I decided to pursue a Master's degree in Food and Wine Criticism to deepen my culture and knowledge of the field. The path allowed me to understand where I really wanted to go with my pen.
Some of the teachers helped to foment my enthusiasm, to want even more from myself, to make me understand gaps, weaknesses, but also my strength.
And with my course colleagues, it was great to share dreams and plans and then see each other now, years later, each with his or her big or small piece of the dream conquered in our pockets. It is always the people who make the difference, and being able to grasp from each the best side is what makes you gain knowledge and growth from each path.
Following the Master's program was a bit of a turning point for me: once I returned home from Milan (after the classroom phase, ed.) I began to devote myself only to food and wine journalism, abandoning news articles or anything else.
What do you love most about your work?
I love everything! But most of all, the great honor of telling stories, projects, dreams, lives of other people. It is a great responsibility.
Which chefs have you met and what did they leave you with in terms of knowledge and mindset?
I have met and meet so many chefs and each of them leaves me with an extra bit of knowledge and awareness.
It was Master Luigi Biasetto who taught me that we must never stray from our innate gift, because otherwise we will die with the regret that we never really lived.
And speaking of regrets, I remember that after I interviewed Francesco Panella there was one sentence that kept rumbling in my head: "Regret is something you carry in you forever, and I in life do not want to have regrets!" Eating a tomato, basil and plankton risotto at Harry's in Trieste at Matteo Metullio's, I closed my eyes and suddenly found myself a child making preserves with grandma and mom and realized that cooking is like writing: if you do it from the heart you can take people elsewhere and into themselves.
I could name so many other chefs, but I think these three examples really make you realize how much this work can give you in terms of personal awareness and growth, beyond the technical food and wine knowledge that you obviously take home with you after each meeting.
How would you define your writing style?
Someone called me a storyteller. Today they call it storytelling, I like to call it emotional writing. That means storytelling from the heart in my hand trying to touch the hearts and minds of readers through stories for which I speak. In this sense, in food and wine stories I have found a perfect home, because nothing more than food allows the pen to bring all five senses to paper. And it is through the senses that emotional chords are touched.
What do you try to get out of every interview, every meeting with a chef?
The true essence of people, sincerity, passion. To empathize is not something as easy as it may seem. Sometimes you are confronted with cooks you find out to be tremendously shy, others are of few words, still others arrogant. Loving this job means being able to put your interlocutor at ease and get them to open up. When you can do that, when then the people you interview give you their heart, well it's an indescribable feeling. One of the best memories I have in that sense is me, sitting on a little sofa in a little room at D'O, Chef Oldani in front of me, so precise, elegant and professional in his answers to my questions. And then I make to get up and he says, "But no stay a little longer, it's so nice to chat with you!"
I won't deny you then that in front of some cooks' life stories I was moved to tears. To meet people who give you true stories and emotions-that is priceless.
You have met several chefs. Would you describe any of them to us in one word?
Iginio Massari: the Master. True greats have a disorienting humility.
Davide Oldani: elegance.
Luigi Biasetto: wonderland. Never give up dreams and your child side.
Alessandro Borghese: vitality.
Bruno Barbieri: unfiltered, in the most beautiful sense of the word, true. With him I laughed so much! He had a fever and was making tortellini while I was interviewing him.
Natale Giunta: pure energy.
Alessandro Breda: absolute love of cooking, the quintessential anti show-man. I love it.
Antonia Klugmann: serenity.
Fabrizia Meroi: the scent of the undergrowth.
Terry Giacomello: genius and technique.
What does it take, in your opinion, to do this work well?
Exactly what it takes to be a good cook: love, passion, knowledge, study, creativity. And more love, and more passion. You have to do it because it is the only thing that makes you feel good, not to become rich or famous.
What is your greatest ambition? Do you have a dream in your drawer to achieve?
Never giving up writing is the highest form of ambition and respect I can give myself. I have many dreams and just as many projects along these lines, some closer in time (which I do not reveal out of superstition) others less so. I have more dreams than years of life ahead of me in truth. But if there is one thing I know for sure, it is that one must always walk toward dreams. Because dreams are born in the truest and deepest part of ourselves, they wade into the future, take the form of planning and help us make sense of even the bad things that life puts in front of us.
