“I’ve wanted to live in Italy for decades, but the time hasn’t been right,” says Grigson, a star of the BBC and The Food Network and author of 24 cookbooks, who first fell in love with the country and its food 40 years ago. “This time, my children had moved out, and I was divorced, footloose and bored with what I was doing. I realised it was the moment to start a new adventure.”
Siobhan English (l) joined Sophie Grigson’s catering company and moved out to Puglia from Sussex; right, a cooking class in progress
The idea for the company took shape when she reconnected with an old colleague who has a villa nearby that she rents out in the summer and asked whether Grigson might be interested in cooking for one of her clients.
She initially started the business with her former colleague, Rhona McPhail, who has since returned home to Scotland. Setting up the catering side of the business was fairly easy as Grigson already had an English-speaking accountant who organised her taxes and VAT number.
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After Rhona’s departure, Grigson was joined by Siobhan English, for whom Grigson had previously cooked. Siobhan moved out from Sussex just before the end of the Brexit transition period saying that the referendum results and the region’s tax advantages outweighed those of staying in the UK.
Their first attempt hit a wall when the recommended surveyor they hired to help them with their application proved “useless,” forcing them to restart the process from scratch. Once they get the green light from their local municipality, they’ll need to meet a stringent set of requirements with the Local Health Authority (ASL) before using their commercial kitchen.
Focaccia Barese: one of the delicious dishes cooked up by Grigson and English (Photo courtesy Sophie Grigson)
While red tape has been a major focus, so has debunking food stereotypes.
Grigson says at the base of their pyramid is that Italian food is the best in the world. From there it narrows: regional food is the best in Italy, town food is the best in the region, and then comes family members.
Grigson adds she’s learnt a lot about her town’s food from her neighbour downstairs, Maria, as well as through road trips to explore Puglia’s regional cuisine. So far the varying types of breads, such as lesser-known focaccia al libro (book focaccia), have stood out the most.
“Perhaps the variety of cuisine, my family and friends and good cheese on toast – but otherwise, no.”
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