Antonio Carluccio - RIP

[liuzhou]

This may not mean much to non-British members, but I'm sad to read this morning of the passing of Antonio Carluccio, the only "celebrity chef" I ever met and spoke with.  Many years ago, I was standing outside his beautiful Italian deli in the northern fringes of Covent Garden, London admiring the wonderful fresh wild mushrooms on sale which were displayed by the open door and regretting that I couldn't afford them that day.

 

As I was doing so, the man himself came out and stopped to chat with me. He was large of body and heart. At that time he was known mainly from his books and for his passion for (the then unfashionable) mushroom foraging, only later becoming a television star, too.

 

Here are a few links. One to an obituary, one to a personal memoir from food writer Matthew Fort   and one to a Q+A session with the maestro.

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Loved watching his shows - he showed such enthusiasm for the food. 

[JohnT]

This is sad news! He was a propper gentleman and fabulous chef with a great passion for promoting the simplicity of the Italian cuisine from the countryside of his homeland. He shall be missed. John.

[rotuts]

I also have seen his shows

 

they were first class and very authentic.

 

remember a particular cabbage and fontina soup     

 

he treated all the people he met w a great deal of respect

 

no matter what their ' walks of life ' were

[joesan]

 

Just noticed this now. Very sad to see him go. He was a true aficionado. 

 

Many years ago -- before he began what was to become a huge, successful and not too inauthentic chain -- I used to visit his original Covent Garden deli every Saturday to stock up on supplies. I used to buy a lovely balsamic pepper dish regularly. Antonio noticed this and said to me, "Look here's the recipe, you can do this yourself at home." He then gave me a whole lesson on the finer points of making it. A real gent whose passion for food made him want more to share it rather than profit from it.