Maria Liberati
As a former international model, Maria Liberati never dreamed that she would go from being a fashion diva to a domestic diva. Ironically, while jet setting off to modeling assignments around the world, Maria became closer to the simplicity of life and food in the country setting of her family's vineyard in the mountains of central Italy. There she began to experience the real tastes of food that she remembered from her childhood.
Finding out that her grandparents owned a well known bakery in their region and that her great aunt cooked for some members of the royal family sparked (what she now calls) her dormant interest in foods and cooking. She began studying with chefs in are trattorias and country farms and ultimately completed culinary training while in Italy. She soon found herself designing cooking programs for English, German and Japanese tourists at various vineyards in Italy.
She has hosted and delighted audiences from International Wine Festivals, cooking shows, fairs and conventions all over the US to Rome, Abruzzi, and Florence, Italy. Her company is in demand for it;s corporate team building cooking programs by Fortune 500 companies. She is consistently endorsed by some of the world's leading chefs for her savvy and simplistic, yet healthy,artisan approach to cooking. Maria is also a freelance food consultant and food business consultant and is considered one of the foremost experts on Italian cuisine and culture.
Her ezine newsletter has grown to 100,000 + subscribers in a short 2 years and often includes interviews with some of her celebrity friends from TV Actor Dick Van Patten to TV Chef Nathan Lyon and more coming up for the 2009 season.
The world has taken notice from her feature articles in national publications like Healthy Cooking, Tastes of Italia, Cooking Light, Woman's World Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, as well as her feature articles in Italian publications including Taste and Tour Italia and RAI network. You can frequently catch Maria appearing on TV and radio as well as food conferences and conventions throughout the USA and Europe.
Maria Liberati has been called the "Italian Martha Stewart" by Celebrity Society Magazine (May 2006). A company unto herself, Maria Liberati is the creator of the trademark Maria Liberati's The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm for licensing for food products that also represent qulait yfood products using all natural artisan ingredients.
The Basic Art of Italian Cooking:Holiday & Special Occasions will be released on Spet 15th and Maria continues to work on producing a TV show - filmed in Italy and broadcast in the US.
Maria Liberati's The Basic Art of Italian Cooking is truly a work of art and has been so referred to as the "gap between art and life" by many. Her podcast- "Let's Dish" with Maria Liberati will air beginning in 2010.