Roberto Fioretti

My name is Roberto, I work in commercial development for a company dealing with international shipments so I'm always in contact with lots of people and lots of regions. I adore motorcycles and travelling, and I love getting to know many different cultures.

I approached vegan nutrition thanks to a dear friend who was engaged to a Cuban who was World Champion of tae kon doo, 2.06 meters tall and weighing 90 kg: a mass of muscles. When I met them in 2011, I was organizing events such as pre dinner drinks and meals on the beach in Ancona but despite my many invitations they always refused in that they were vegans and knew they wouldn't find anything suitable for them at the buffet.

So I turned the tables around and asked them to invite me to their house: I was so surprised, happy and satisfied by what they had prepared for me that it was natural to exclaim “from tomorrow I'm becoming vegan too!”.

I ate really well but my athlete friend warned me “Roberto it's not so simple”! and so the next day I retruned to their house to prepare a vegan lunch, and even on that occasion I was left surprised and satisfied. At this stage Barbaro the Cuban athlete sent me files and books to study so I could become more familiar with the argument. Initially it wasn't easy, and I had started to buy a lot of ready made products from supermarket shelves. Then I turned to a nutritionalist and slowly I built up information and recipes.

In the first 2 years I had to give up some flavours that I loved and missed (especially with regards to fish) and in part conviviality was limited: I lost some friends who took the word friendship to mean meeting up for dinner and nothing else. Fortunately many other friendships were created.

However I did use this period of my life to become better informed, considering that mine wasn't a gradual change but sudden from one day to the next. I've been a blood donor for 13 years and thanks to vegan nutrition and excellent blood values I can donate 2 times more than the average donor.

Even though I approached the vegan diet for health and wellness motives, these last years I've increasingly discovered the animal question and their salvation and I dress in a vegan manner, preferring companies who create clothes, shoes and accessories without animal exploitation.

Now my only regret is not to have arrived sooner at this choice, but for this I find comfort in the words of my grandfather who often reminded me that “to each season corresponds it's own harvest”