Pippa Mattei puts Malta on the international culinary map

Pippa Mattei is 60 years old, the sort of age one is supposed to start considering retirement, but for some, success comes later in life. Last month Ms Mattei travelled to Paris to receive first prize in the Entertainment Category for her second cookbook, Pippa’s Festa, at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

Ms Mattei’s culinary journey is a journey of life. Her first attempt at writing a cookbook was more of an editorial venture, in which she compiled recipes from Round Table wives, back in the 1980s. Little did she know then, that she had embarked on a career that would lead her to write two solo cookbooks and win a prestigious international award for her life’s work.

The small book, Specialities for Your Table, was well received among the local community, and soon after she embarked on a home-cooking venture with her friend Lucinda Stellini – No Frills Frozen Foods, preparing meals for friends and summer visitors who were too busy to cook.

At this stage, her culinary skills were still taking shape but the wheels had been set in motion; she began to dig up old family recipes passed on from aunts and grandfathers, as well as from her husband’s family, turning her small kitchen into a bubbling workshop. She began to work tirelessly to perfect the secrets of a good kitchen – reading, experimenting and researching all the influences at play in a Maltese kitchen, and realised there was a demand for a return to the way we cooked, the knowledge of which seemed to be waning with her generation, baby boomers who appeared to be enjoying the “relief” from domestic duty offered by frozen foods and ready meals.

By the early 1990s cooking was becoming fashionable again, and interest in slow cooking and healthy eating was on the rise. She began to offer cooking lessons in her kitchen, with six to 10 students huddled around her stove, and found she had an aptitude for sharing her knowledge and skills.

The reputation of Ms Mattei’s cooking classes spread and the demand increased, leading her to further research and meet the demands of contemporary households.

With busy schedules and long working hours, Ms Mattei rea-lised the dire need to bring good food back onto the table, which is the heart of any home, but she had to find a way to make it attractive and efficient, to meet the demands of a modern living.

Her cooking style took shape: use local ingredients that are in season, research and plan your meals and your shopping on a weekly basis, and most importantly of all, bring the passion back into the kitchen. Her formula was a success and soon she was a household name. People of all ages began to sign up for her lessons in which she instructed how to prepare delicious, heart-warming dishes in no time at all. The demand was unprecedented and by the mid-1990s she was teaching all year round.

And then it occurred to her: write a cookbook. Most of the material from her research was already in hand, it was now a question of editing it, just as she had done 15 years back for the Round Table wives book.

She embarked on her project alone, working over the next few years to hone and perfect the recipes to ensure they would work even when she wasn’t there to instruct. In 2003 her first solo book, 25 Years In A Maltese Kitchen, was published by Miranda, and it was very well received, establishing her as one of Malta’s foremost cooks.

Invitations to contribute to the press followed, as well as appearances on TV, both for a local and international audience. She continued to offer her cookery courses, never once letting up on her quest to ensure the kitchen remained an intrinsic part of contemporary life.

Eight years later, in 2010, her second book, Pippa’s Festa was published by Miranda. In it she gives testament to our strong tradition of celebration around the dining table, blended expertly with the variety of outside influences that have become a part of the way we eat, and define who we are today. The Gourmand World Cookbook Award is the culmination of her life’s work to bring good food back on the table and put Maltese cuisine on the international culinary map.

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