|
...an family, Gino inherited his grandfathers (a head chef) love of cooking and entered the Luigi de Medici Catering College at the age of fifteen. He continued to develop his skills through the kitchens of restaurants in Europe, including Perignon in Nice and a spell as Head Chef at Sylvester Stallones Mambo King in Marbella (aged 19) before coming to England the following year.
At this time I was a young Italian guy trying to run a bit too fast, says Gino, and I got involved with the wrong people. I wanted to send money home - perhaps I was keen for them to see how well I was doing - and made the mistake of handling a few things that didnt belong to me.
He paid for this mistake with several months in jail. He had time to think. And he decided that he wasnt coming back to this place - to the disappointment of the staff, who had soon become used to his great cooking.
The shock was his turning point and he resolved to work hard to achieve success the right way, taking on Head Chef assignments in London restaurants - including Pane Vino and The Orchard in Belsize Park - and joining a major Italian food company as Development Chef. He has also developed recipes for Tesco (their Finest range), was Head Chef at the Italian Ambassadors birthday reception and took care of the food at the aforementioned Pavarotti concert reception.
Gino now owns his own import and distribution company, Bonta Italia, and continues as development consultant chef for ready-meals manufacturing companies.
His particular skill in the blending of olive oil led to his first TV engagement with UK Food as a guest on Good Food Live. He was an immediate success and is now, besides making frequent appearances as studio guest chef, a favourite co-presenter. He was also invited to shoot a VT series for Good Food Live called Essential Ingredients , which examined traditional Italian foods and recipes. BBC TV soon took notice of his natural ability and regular appearances on the BBC2's leading food programme Saturday Kitchen quickly followed. 2004 also saw Gino's first appearances on BBC2's prestigious Ready Steady Cook, where he started with three straight wins. He also became a hugely popular regular guest on The Terry and Gaby Show for Channel 5 before moving to ITV to present the One Stop Food feature on their flagship magazine programme, This Morning a recent cooking segment with Gino drew the highest rating of any item throughout the entire series.
Gino's association with ITV has grown through 2005 and he features in two exciting new series, both as co-host and chef Too Many Cooks finds him testing culinary contestants in a battle for survival and in Chef vs Britain he takes on talented amateur cooks in the nationwide equivalent of an old-fashioned prize fight.
|
|
- After dinners
- Awards Ceremonies
- Cooking is my lfe
|