Fascinating Folk – Page 2 – Dani Valent

How good are people? I love interviewing people from all different walks of life and trying to understand what makes them tick. Here is where I’ve shared stories about actors, politicians, scientists, chef and even an astronaut. Most of these stories have been published in Fairfax newspapers, magazines and websites.

Chef Isabella Poti – Italy’s New Guard

There's a contradiction at the heart of Bros', the two-year-old restaurant that Isabella Poti, 22, owns with her boyfriend Floriano Pellegrino, 28. On the one hand, its mission is to preserve the culinary traditions of Lecce, the restaurant's home in the southern Italian province of Puglia. But on the other hand, there's scarcely a dish served in the 25-seater that any Lecce local would recognise. "We keep our traditions, but we make them new," Poti says.

Stonefruit – radio chat & recipe ideas

I try to appreciate nature's bounty with every mouthful but I am especially in awe of peaches: I find it so amazing that this fuzzy fruit's seed is protected by flesh that's so evocative, sweet and juicy. Practical propagation probably doesn't need to be this delicious but YES. Enjoy my stonefruit primer and recipe suggestions.

Chris Lucas: the Melbourne foodie king bringing (more) Asian glam to Sydney

Chris Lucas, the entrepreneur behind some of Melbourne’s hottest laneway restaurants is moving to Sydney and luring one of the harbour city’s best chef south. Will his sizzle translate, or will he have egg on his face?

Meet Helen Goh, the Melbourne woman Ottolenghi is sweet on

It was Ottolenghi’s first yo-yo that did it. Israeli-born, London-based chef Yotam Ottolenghi had never encountered the classic Australian biscuit, a double-layered melting moment with buttercream filling. One fateful day in 2006, recently arrived Melbourne recruit Helen Goh gently lamented that there were no biscuits among the patisserie cakes at Ottolenghi’s Islington cafe. A yo-yo or an Anzac and a cup of tea was exactly what she hankered for after a hard, hand-blistering shift chopping butternut pumpkins.

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© Dani Valent 2024