“Laughter is such an ice breaker and it instantly makes people relax and think everything will be okay. We always try to start and end with laughter."

Raffaela certainly has plenty of visitors coming through the doors of her rustic home, Villa Romantica on Auckland’s North Shore. Through her home-based business, Al Dente, she has entertained hundreds of clients who have been eager to immerse themselves in all things Italian through cooking classes, dinners, seminars and special events.

Rather than just sitting down to a meal, Raffaela’s guests help prepare what they’ll be eating, often with produce plucked fresh from her organic garden. Throughout she will impart wonderful stories about the origins of regional dishes, snapshots of life in Italy and describe how and why things are cooked.

“People are really looking for an authentic experience when they come here. They want to learn more about how to use this or that ingredient and how it would be used in Italy. It’s like a total immersion – we play Italian music, eat the food and drink the wine and share Italian stories and history. It allows people to escape for a couple of hours.”

Food and history became an escape for Raffaela while she was working as an accountant in Italy. Although enjoying her job she felt she was missing a passion in her life and decided to learn more about the origins of regional Italian food. She enrolled in an academy specialising in food history and learnt as much as she could, but while in Italy never had the opportunity to switch careers.

That came when she and her family decided to move to New Zealand for a change of lifestyle and Raffaela was by chance asked to do some catering for the Prada camp during the America’s Cup.

“Someone had heard about me and asked me to prepare some food. At first I was worried about it, but then thought ‘Why not?’ I made some prosciutto and melon, some beautiful mini pizzas and a few other things and everyone loved them. I was asked to do more after that and Al Dente grew from there.”

Her passion for food history also led to the writing of her memoir The Fragrance of Basil: Food and Memories of My Italian Childhood and she has been instrumental in setting up the New Zealand chapter of the Slow Food Movement. Recently she was asked to present an educational workshop at Te Papa re-enacting how a Pompeiian women would have put together a celebratory feast to coincide with the ‘A Day In Pompeii’ exhibition.

But it’s at her own home, surrounded by family and guests, where Raffaela is the happiest. “We go outside and fire up the pizza oven and eat some delicious food, enjoy each other’s company and laugh and talk. It’s a beautiful life we have here in New Zealand and I am lucky to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds.”

 

Photo by Mark Heaslip
Story by Dish Magazine