“In the kitchen, I find love, culture, and myself.”
where it all started
a little bit about my background
Growing up in an Italian-Venezuelan family, food has always been an important part of my life and culture. Some of my earliest memories in the kitchen involve cooking with all members of my family.
My brother taught me how to make an egg omelet with bacon. This was his signature dish when he was about 13 years old whenever he was hungry. From my dad, I learned the importance of not wasting food; he would come home from work, grab leftovers, and make delicious stir-fries with things like rice, chicken, meat, vegetables, and soy sauce. In fact, one of the first dishes I made was rice with chicken, soy sauce, garlic sauce, and a little Worcestershire sauce with my friends from school, and if we were feeling fancy, we’d add a can of corn.
My mom, she is the baker of the family. She makes the best brownies, which for a long time were my mom’s signature “bring something to a party” dish, and as a kid my brother and I loved it because we got to lick the spoons with all the chocolate batter. She also makes an incredible risotto that I still crave to this day.
When I was living with my parents, they didn’t really cook that much because we had Mirtha, our nanny/maid, who is like a big sister to my brother and me. Mirtha can cook really, really good, she learned to cook from my Nonna as well as from all the cookbooks my mom would buy her. Her specialty is baking and decorating cakes.
But of all of them, my Nonna (grandmother) was the main cooking lover of the family and from whom I think I got the geenes to love cooking as well. She found immense joy in preparing meals for us, and I share that magic with her. Her signature dishes were her minestrone and lasagna.
For my Nonna cooking was her way of showing her love and thats my love language too.
Where I am now
I am from Venezuela and moved to Germany as a student in 2015. Moving to Germany alone was a turning point, for the first time I had to cook for myself, I didn’t have my Nonna or Mirtha to cook for me. So I started with the basics my family taught me and gradually became more creative to cook delicious yet affordable meals as a student. Thanks to social media, I started watching a lot of cooking videos and started learning new recipes and methods. Moreover, I started to understand the true meaning of what it means to cook, not only the joy it brings me, but how it can benefit one’s health and diet, as well as how creative one can become in the kitchen.
Why This Cookbook
Over the years, my cooking has improved, and I’ve compiled a collection of recipes that range from classic to trendy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I began planning my meals on a weekly basis to minimize trips to the grocery store. What started as a necessity turned into a habit that not only saved time and money, but also reduced food waste and encouraged seasonal and local eating.
That’s why I decided to create this website as my online cookbook – a place where I can share my recipes with the world. I hope you find as much joy in cooking them as I do.
Happy cooking,
Rebe
