The world of Bollywood dining and celebrity apéritifs has many hidden masters. Ask Pierce Brosnan about Mama Agata and he will start licking his chops. Now, if you want to learn cooking from this matronly maestro who has serviced the delicate palates of personages such as Humphrey Bogart, Anita Eckberg, Richard Burton, Liz Taylor, Fred Astaire, Charles Cubbon, Van Efflin, Federico Fellini, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Marcello Mastroianni, the only way is to head to the little commune town of Ravello, high above the Amalfi coast in the Salerno province of Southern Italy.
Mama Agata's exclusive cooking classes are the brainchild of Laura Faust whose gourmet company, Ciao Laura is referred to as the Culinary Concierge of Italy. Ciao Laura plans personalised cooking lessons, cooking vacations and culinary based foodie adventures throughout Italy. Cia Laura says all of their programs are hand-picked through extensive research and personal recommendations from Italian counterparts. So its not just cooking vacations spent in bucolic Italy that the company is famous for; open market tours, truffle hunting trips, treks, boat tours along the Amalfi coast and visits to wineries and food producers are part of the buffet. For activities other than food—Opera, destination weddings and theatre passes—Laura is the ticket.
At Ravello, Mama Agata and her charming daughter Chiara Lima greet you with slices of special lemon cake. They will teach how to make pizza dough and toppings, along with a new recipe for authentic Neapolitan tomato sauce. Mama says a wood burning oven is not necessary to make a classic Pizza Margherita. She will teach you how make one using an electric or gas oven. For more pizzaz, head for Sorrento and learn the art of the traditional Napolitano pizza in the kitchen of a villa Sorrentina.
Italy has been the land of adventurers of centuries. Laura Faust is one such adventurer; only her exploits are driven by her palate. Laura served as an assistant editor who worked with Chiara on Mamma Agata's first cook book. This gave her inspiration to explore Italy's great cooking traditions. Ciao Laura was the result of her travels and feasts. The office is not based in Italy, though Laura and her army of chefs spend many weeks and months in Italy every year, visiting our colleagues, cooking schools, restaurants, historic sites and even train stations, to understand the terrain, so as to speak. This helps build client confidence in Ciao Laura.
Clients are evaluated according to their preferences and cooking skils to provide the best suitable match. It could be an exclusive cooking and wine vacation along the Amalfi Coast that has been personally crafted by Laura. Or it could be a Ventiean cooking class with English speaking hosts, who will take you shopping for fresh ingredients as well as let you choose from their personal garden before the class begins in a traditional Venetian kitchen. The four hour long class is taught in English at the end of which you walk away with a recipe booklet in English.
A sublime experience Ciao Laura offers is a seven day Artisan Cooking Vacation in Tuscany. Hands on cooking lessons in authentic Italian farmhouse kitchens, daily tours of local villages to shop, explore and visit historic landmarks are on the menu. The cooking school is a meticulously restored farmhouse villa that stands majestically on a hilltop flanked by
Tuscan cypresses.
For those renting a villa in Tuscany, Puglia, the Amalfi Coast or Sorrento and are not bothered with cooking classes, Ciao Laura provides personal chef services. They will set up a private, candle-lit gourmet dinner on your villa's balcony overlooking the Amalfi coats or a rolling Tuscan hillside. Ciao, then.
Contact Laura at info@ciaolaura.com to inquire about the dates and pricing