with celebrities and advertising and very little else. There are very few places, either online or in print where food and drink artisans, farmers, growers, producers and purveyors are written about in any researched or detailed way. Sometimes a supermarket magazine may write about it's suppliers but even that is becoming scarcer.
I wanted to create a calm, colourful and creative platform where foodie writers could come together and show their work, as well as the work of many ordinary people, all over the world, producing extraordinary food.
LYWS: Tell me about growing up in Lombardy in Italy?
SdS: My mother comes from Milano and my father from Bergamo in Lombardy, Northern Italy. This is the land of risotto, polenta, full fat cheese and fashion!
My father's family settled in Eritrea, now part of Ethiopia, in Africa before the Second World War, because they were growing sugar and cotton as well as managing irrigation systems, reservoirs and dams. My parents moved all over Africa during the early part of my childhood, which was fascinating. I learned a great deal about the food of "hot countries" which makes a change from living in Britain. We would go back to Italy during the holidays and this also gave me a love and understanding of Italian food. (I wrote about my Italian-Eritrean food heritage in The Foodie Bugle recently http://thefoodiebugle.com/article/cooks/my-italian-eritrean-food-heritage.
I was most fortunate to be living in Italy when my daughter was born so that her childhood years were in Lombardy.
LYWS: Did you have a career in food while living in Italy?
SdS: While I lived in Italy I went to a number of cookery schools, particularly focusing on patisserie, which is my great love. It was from this passion for baking that I decided to set up my own cookery school to teach others what I had learned. In Britain I have worked in restaurants, pubs and cookery schools, and I have watched how much the food offering has improved here over the last twenty years. When I arrived in Britain the food was appalling, and now London is considered one of the top places to eat in the world.
LYWS: How long have you lived in Britain and what brought you to Wiltshire?
SdS: I came to Britain in my late teens and go back to Italy for holidays. My husband is British and so is my daughter now really, because her education has been in Britain. We came to live in Wiltshire because my daughter won a scholarship to go to school here. After all these years I regard myself as Italo-Briton- that's a good compromise!
LYWS: Do you like to eat out a lot and which are your favourite restaurants?
SdS: We love to eat out as a family: me, my husband, my daughter and sometimes Mamma comes with us too. There are a number of really good places I love to go: Casanis Bistro in Bath; The Pig in Brockenhurst; Daylesford Organic Farm in Kingham; The Swan at Southrop; Made by Bob in Cirencester. We get the Good Food Guide and follow their recommendations. I interviewed it's Editor, Elizabeth Carter for The Foodie Bugle. The Good Food Guide are a very honest and reliable guide that tells the truth.
LYWS: Do you love to travel? Which are you favourite countries?
SdS: I love to travel and my favourite place ( outside Italy) is possibly South Africa: a wealth of culinary fusion and heritage. I also love Wales- unspoiled rugged and friendly. Everytime we have had a holiday in Wales we have enjoyed it enormously – even in the rain it is still beautiful and quirky. And the food scene there is really taking off.
LYWS: Is it all about Italian food for you or do you have another favourite nationality of cuisine?
SdS: I love all food as long as it's good, clean and fair. Indian cookery is wonderful and my absolute favourite is Japanese. I could eat Japanese food for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of my life.
LYWS: Do you have a large number of cookery books and who is your favourite food writer?
SdS: I have a huge number of cookery books and magazines I have to give them away to charity shops constantly because I get them sent to me through the post every week. Cookbook publishers want book reviews in The Foodie Bugle but I could not possibly review everything they send me. (Especially all the celebrity cookbooks I do not even open.)
LYWS: Would you like to write your own book?
SdS: I would like to write a food book, but not a recipe book. There are far too many recipe books, one is published every other minute. Most of them are repeats or copies of the same recipes published the week before! I have no idea who is buying all these recipe books and if anybody is actually using them, because £2.75 billion of ready meals are eaten every year in Britain.
LYWS:What is your favourite season in the garden?
SdS: My favourite season is summer: I love to eat tomatoes, asparagus, salads, fresh fruit and ice-cream. In England the summer is so short {and sometimes non-existent} so I really do savour every mouthful!
LYWS: Do you grow all your own fruit and vegetables?
SdS: I wish I could, but I am so busy. I grow what I can: lots of salads, fresh herbs and orchard fruits like apples, pears, plums and quinces. I also grow lots of edible flowers and fresh flowers for my table. I also grow soft fruit and I have a walnut tree!
LYWS: Who has inspired you the most, creatively?
SdS: So many people have inspired me creatively: Anna del Conte, Claudia Roden, Elisabeth Luard, Diana Henry, Sybil Kapoor….All the lovely, talented, clever cookbook authors who really research and know their stuff.
The Gentle Author, the writer of Spitalfields Life, has inspired me to be a better writer and to learn more about the craft of blogging.
Visually, St.Jude’s designers, Ben Pentreath, Lost in London Magazine, Persephone Books, World of Interiors, Eric Ravilious, Laura Stoddart and the Victoria and Albert Museum inspire me.
I read voraciously across all genres in non-fiction: food, gardening, history, design and art. I find this keeps me informed and educated because it is important to keep learning. My ambition is to learn something each and every day of my life, and to stay fit and fascinated. The best way to grow old is to stay updated and uplifted!
Thanks so much to Silvana for her time. What an incredibly fascinating lady!
and of course The Foodie Bugle
