Q&A: Giorgio Nava

How did you become a chef? "Because of my passion for food, of course! It's in my blood, my genes, my culture. If you are born in Italy, you grow up eating great food. I am from Milano. I learned from a good chef. I didn't go to cooking school; I started working as a junior staffer when I was 17. The restaurant, which no longer exists, was a typical Milanese restaurant - fine dining Italian."

How did you end up in South Africa? "I saw the opportunity in 1994, so I moved there. I am very happy at the moment, it was a good move. I have five restaurants there - two are fine dining, two casual, and I have a venue for big events; 4,000 people at a time. Italian food is very appreciated in Africa. It's very much known for the basics - pizza and pasta - [but] South Africans are learning that we do more than lasagne, pizza and pasta."

What did the World Pasta Champion contest involve? "There were 24 chefs competing, by invitation. This year, the level of competitors was very good. You prepare the dish in 40 minutes. I tried to be different, to go with very [inexpensive] ingredients, [such as] broccoli. People tend to think pasta is a heavy dish. So what I was trying to show is that you can cook pasta without it being heavy. People think pasta is rich and it can make them fat. That's not true."

Can you describe your winning dish? "It is simple - very simple. Broccoli, chives, tomato and the crumbs of second-day bread. A vege-tarian dish. Most of the other chefs presented very rich, very expensive, very fancy dishes using scallops, prawns, lobsters and fish. There was a lot of caviar. And everyone used long pasta. I chose shell pasta and a vegetarian dish - the only vegetarian dish in the competition. Chefs need to make the customers happy with [inexpensive] ingredients. Not everyone can afford to eat lobster and shrimp or crab every day. Anyone can make this dish at home. It is very simple. The simplicity is what makes this dish a winner."

What is the secret of making good pasta? "Follow the instructions on the box. If they say cook it for nine minutes, then it must be nine minutes. There [should be] no olive oil in the water, though many people think there should be. Use lots of water and salt - enough salt to make it taste almost like sea water. And then mix the sauce with the pasta for a couple of seconds to let the pasta absorb the flavour of the sauce. Follow this rule, never change it. Italian food is like a bible, so you read the book and you follow the instructions. There is very little to add. If you want to cook Italian, just keep it simple and you will have a beautiful dish."

Keira Lu Huang