Italy
Thinking back to his childhood in Italy in the 1970s, much of Max Mariola’s memories evolve around food. For the chef from Rome, summer days were spent making preserves and sauces with his mom, the weekends were for squid fishing with his dad, and coming back from school, there was always a plate of fresh pasta waiting for him.
At 55, Mariola is making the same kinds of memories with his young son, Mario, who frequently appears as a mini sous chef in his YouTube videos.
“It’s quite simple: I try to pass on what has been passed down to me,” says Mariola, whose career includes extensive stints in top restaurants and more than two decades hosting cooking shows on Italian TV.
Among the many things his mother passed down to him is an understanding that good food doesn’t always have to be expensive. “Food can be accessible and sustainable if we shop wisely and intelligently,” he stresses. “If you buy a high-quality seasonal pumpkin in the summer, it will cost around EUR 2.50, whereas in autumn, it costs EUR 1.80.”
The other factor he keeps an eye on when buying his produce is shipping distance. “Zero kilometers is rarely possible within a city, but buying products from within the two neighboring regions is a good alternative,” he says.
At times, that means his recipes avoid the “it” foods of the moment. “It’s pointless to insist on buying avocados just because they are trendy,” he says, “when we know they cause environmental damage. So, my plea to everyone is to buy seasonal food from your region.”
When people reach for one of his cookbooks or tune into his YouTube channel, they may not get what’s trendy, but they get a look inside Mariola’s own life and daily menu, he says.
“When I share things like a salad I made with all seasonal products like prickly pears and zucchini, I am sharing what I make for myself. I want to live a long, healthy life, and proper nutrition is part of that,” he says.
Encouraging his viewers to eat high-quality foods is mostly about asking them to understand where the food comes from, he says. “Take a few minutes to inform yourself.”
That includes processing. When he goes grocery shopping with his son, he points out what aisles in the supermarket contain healthy products and what aisles hold highly processed foods he ought to eat in moderation. And Mariola encourages him to try different vegetables by associating their colors with superheroes.
“Kids should enjoy learning about healthy eating,” he says. “They have the means to become smart [about nutrition] today, and we need to help them be healthier.”