‘Us women need to make some noise,’ says chef Valeria Piccini, of two-Michelin star Italian restaurant
- The chef-owner of Caino, in Tuscany, grew up around food and has always loved cooking
- ‘I didn’t know what the Michelin Guide was. But when we got the star, it was amazing’
This is your first trip to Hong Kong. What have you been up to? “We haven’t done much sightseeing, more eating. I’ve enjoyed what I tried. There are many things I’ve never had before, like snake soup. I would have liked it more if I didn’t see the live snakes. I’m scared of them!”
What are your childhood memories around food in Tuscany? “I always liked eating and cooking. I started cooking with my grandmother. Every Sunday she made ravioli with ragu. That’s where my passion for cooking began. I grew up on a farm where we had sheep and goats, so we made cheeses like ricotta. I miss it. I made cheese until I was 20 years old and, in 1980, we sold the farm and the animals, and grew vegetables instead.”
What did you like about cooking when you were a child? “I liked making ravioli. When we didn’t have time to make the dough we would mix ricotta with spinach or other vegetables and roll them into balls, cover them with flour and boil them without a pasta dough. These are called nudi, or naked – without a cover. I liked working with my hands.”
How did you meet your husband, Maurizio Menichetti? “I met him when I was around 13 years old at his secondary school. He was 15. Think how long I supported him, 41 years! When I was 14 years old, my parents wanted me to have a proper education so I went to his chemistry school, as it was the only institution near our home. During that time, I got to know my future husband. When I got my diploma, at 18, I married him.”
How did you start working in his family’s restaurant, Caino? “Every morning on my way to get the bus to chemistry school, I passed the restaurant. I would get a later bus to spend more time with Maurizio. He was always in the restaurant so I would stick around and eventually started working there. My mother-in-law, Angela, saw my interest in cooking.”
What did she teach you? “She taught me everything about traditional Tuscan cuisine. She was a very good cook. When I started working there, the restaurant had already been open for 10 years. It was a trattoria serving local Tuscan food. My mother-in-law and I had a very good relationship; we never fought.”
How did the food at Caino evolve? “The early 1980s saw the boom of nouvelle cuisine in Italy. I started to study and travel to learn more about it and, in 1985, I started to change my dishes to be more modern, but still have a traditional taste. I did this by reducing the fat and oil, by as much as one-half, to make the dishes fresh and light, healthy too. I did this through trial and error, my husband was the guinea pig.
“By 1989, we had completely changed to nouvelle cuisine but we were losing our old customers. I sat down with my mother-in-law and husband and asked, ‘Are we doing the right thing?’ But in 1991 we got our first Michelin star.”
What was your reaction to getting your first star? “I didn’t know what the Michelin Guide was. But when we got the star, it was amazing. I had never thought about this, I just want to make customers happy. It was an emotional moment for us. My mother-in-law was not well but she still wanted to help, by washing dishes or shelling peas. It was her restaurant, which she’d started in 1971 with my father-in-law, Carisio.”
Maurizio looks after the wine? “He takes care of the farm and vineyard, and we have the biggest cellar in Tuscany, with 22,000 bottles. He and our son, Andrea, are sommeliers. But I don’t drink because I’m allergic to wine. I prefer eating.”
We always talk about male chefs, but us women need to make some noise. I want to get the female chefs in Italy together and show the world what we do
How did you feel about getting your second Michelin star in 1999? “I never thought I would get a second star. At the time we were renovating the restaurant to build three guest rooms upstairs. It was very noisy and I was worried we would lose customers. But we got the second star and celebrated by going to Enoteca Pinchiorri, in Florence. It was the top restaurant in Italy at the time, with three stars.”
Do you have a favourite ingredient you like to work with? “I really love pigeon, it’s my signature dish. When I was young we ate pigeon. I like the taste of the juicy meat, and the colour. I also like to cook offal, creating dishes using the brain, heart and liver. My favourite cheese is ricotta. I also like cinnamon; when you make ravioli you usually put nutmeg in the ricotta, but in Tuscany we use cinnamon.”
What’s next? “I just started a movement to support women in the kitchen called Parola di Shef – ‘shef’ instead of ‘chef’. Parola di chef means ‘chef says’ or ‘chef talks’. We always talk about male chefs, but us women need to make some noise. I want to get the female chefs in Italy together and show the world what we do. We make the same sacrifices and do the same job as men. Not enough people are talking about this.”
What are your hobbies? “When I’m not working, I should follow the doctor’s advice and go for a walk but I don’t. I like to soak in the natural hot springs. I also like to read cookbooks. I order lots of them but don’t have time to read them. When there is a giant pile, then I start going through them.”
