Arcobaleno in Cucina - Rainbow in the Kitchen
11/04/2021
Interview with Mariaelisa e Marco
Talking with Maria Elisa is like a breath of fresh air: her tone of voice is always delicate, a feature that introduces a beautiful and joyful approach to life even before listening to her words; her smile expresses her kind soul which is reflected in her dishes: colorful, balanced and inviting.
Mariaelisa what is your training and how did you approach a vegetable diet?
First of all, I always emphasize that Nature saved me! I define myself “a collector” of edible, aromatic herbs and flowers for cooking.
It is an opportunity to take a trip to the hills and inland mountains, to breathe fresh air and, at the same time, research with new scents and colors for a natural and vegan cuisine. My personal life path was laid out for me with looking after herbs, edible and full of goodness. In fact, my paternal grandmother Elisa (born in 1904) was a teacher and among her books even in the sixties she had texts on health, plants and cooking!
I also went to the School of Art - Photography and this has led me to express myself in terms of image in dishes and cooking stories.
2011 saw a change of life both on a personal and consequently professional level moving towards a style of living more natural and basic.
In spring 2013 I started organizing natural / vegan cooking courses for adults and children in cultural associations and environmentally friendly companies - in this way I started spreading "my knowledge and discoveries" of taste and well-being in the kitchen.
How was “Arcobaleno in Cucina” (translate Rainbow in the Kitchen) created?
In spring 2014, I met Marco Mazzini, a naturopath from Pesaro, who organized natural cooking courses in Pesaro, we collaborated and this collaboration turned into a beautiful love story! We stayed together and in 2020 got married! And that’s how our project started.
We created the blog www.arcobalenoincucina.it where we publish Marco's articles dedicated to Bioenergetic Nutrition according to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Dietetics and a whole series of 4-handed recipes to suggest how to eat in a natural and balanced way.
As we often say: "Eat WELL, to feel good and think BETTER!"
How much did your meeting with Marco affect your way of cooking and your life in general?
The meeting with Marco led me to reflect more on the value of food: I gradually reduced my "gourmet" point of view and focused on healthy and good nourishment researching how to preserve the nutrients of every ingredient. Our recipes are the result of what the season offers at that time and how to bring out a good energy through nutrition.
Together you are a couple in life and a close-knit team, united by an ideal of sharing a lifestyle that leads to well-being, in a holistic and spiritual way. What did you discover through Marco and what did Marco discover through you?
Mariaelisa: Thanks to Marco I was able to dig deeper into a holistic lifestyle and thanks to his suggestions and teachings I understood what the energy of food is.
Each person is unique and listening to your body is fundamental. We study together various dishes and I believe with time to have gained depth and creative beauty in preparing food which is that extra touch that helps in web communication.
Marco: Thanks to Maria Elisa I discovered art and love in assembling food, this is important because if you use love this transmits to the dish and is an added value.
Your way of cooking and spreading well-being has crossed borders and landed in China: how was your oriental experience and what did you bring home from that trip?
China is in our hearts. Our experience was extraordinary. We were contacted in 2016 by the highest Chinese authority in the field of vegan cuisine promotion and from Beijing they came to Pesaro to interview us and participate in our cooking class. They gave us lots of visibility on their portal and we stayed in touch. In fact in August 2017 we went to Shanghai to teach the Arcobaleno cuisine with Marco's Chinese Medicine interventions. Beautiful!
The course was held in a huge organic farm in Shanghai with a lot of biodiversity available and fresh flowers and buds every day. The students, many Buddhists and vegans, appreciated our teaching. We had no difficulty communicating and wonderful friendships were born.
We returned to Beijing in March 2018 to hold courses in a location that would be the envy of Masterchef. The warmth and impeccable organization truly honored us, an unforgettable experience.
We often communicate on Chinese social networks and thanks to technology we remain close.
The lesson is that we are all connected and despite cultural or religious differences, when you start a course of real well being at 360° many marvelous meetings occur.
Through food we can elevate ourselves, at least this is what I perceive by following you: can we really become better people by refining our way of cooking?
I really think so!
Marco: certainly, refining brings love, preparing a dish with the right foods, seasonal, territorial, etc ... brings the right energy to our body, consequently improving our psycho-emotional, physical and metabolic life
You Marco, what advice would you give to those who want to understand how to draw the best energy from their food?
As mentioned above, consuming food according to season and territory: an apple grown in our area will give us the right energy (Jing) for our body, if just picked, even better. But the same apple that reaches our table after a 400km journey can easily lose its energy and eating it will fill us but not feed us energetically. It is also important to choose the flavors that our body asks for as these are surely the flavors we need in that moment. The same applies to the nature of the food: if it is hot, lukewarm, neutral, fresh or cold, and to understand whether our body needs heat or cold.
In your opinion, what are the ingredients to be favored in a cuisine that aims at authentic well-being?
Maria: Going back to cooking is already a good thing for physical well-being. Transforming raw materials means not wasting nourishment and avoiding the consumption of preserved substances and additives present in readymade meals.
Marco: There are no foods to be favored, each of us is different physically, emotionally etc…. There are no good or bad diets, but there are diets suitable for every single person linked to the emotional moment.
Vegetable nutrition is a much more sustainable diet for the planet, as well as for our health: do you think this is a topic that is starting to involve the new generations?
Maria: In this historical period there is a lot of information and we hope for a real change towards a path of sustainability that also starts from cooking.
In a sea of profiles, channels, videos, articles, you are a value in itself, a reality made up of contents and you have a strong and characterizing message that belongs to you: try to turn it into a slogan of a few words.
Marco: I turn to an ancient motto of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Dietetics:
"Food has one purpose, which is nourishing, but it has two potentials: to take away health and to restore it"
What would be the main title of tomorrow’s newspaper you would like to read?
ME"Take care of yourself !!!"
M "Do not leave your health to others"
I wish you to continue with your beautiful and important work and also to be able to export your idea of well-being and cuisine once again, an idea supported by complete awareness.
www.arcobalenoincucina.it
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr5lhnZycTGBEIv_MVlDjZg
https://www.facebook.com/arcobalenoincucina
https://www.facebook.com/Marco-Mazzini-Alimentazione-Bioenergetica-e-Dietetica-Tradizionale-Cinese-963787237014276
https://www.instagram.com/arcobalenoincucina7/
https://www.instagram.com/marcomazzini58/
You can find here the recipe of crepes made by Mariaelisa
