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Traveling Italian Chef Dominico D’Imperio, dropping by Galereya for the first week of April, shares how to prepare risotto like a native Italian.

I prefer to work as a traveling chef because traveling expands my boundaries of taste and helps me to get closer to the traditions, ingredients and habits which are totally different in each place. My experience will be enriched by the week of my visit to Moscow where I shall be able to learn new culinary traditions and habits.

How has a rural Italian upbringing influenced your cuisine?

I think that the rural Italian life is rare, rich, authentic and genuine. You just try to think about its microclimate while traveling from North to South and encountering places and ingredients of an extraordinary beauty and quality. The ingredients that inspire me are seafood-based, because I was born and grew up in Naples. I was brought with Mediterranean cuisine, with its simple and genuine flavors and delicate perfumes.

What\'s the best advice you would give to a home cooking enthusiast?

The best advice that I would give to a home enthusiast is to continue to get closer to the cuisine with even more passion, in order to make the guests feel that they are special and esteemed.

What has been your funniest kitchen incident?

From the funniest kitchen incidents, I remember the holidays in my childhood helping my mother at the kitchen, creating more confusion than giving any help. I also remember my unstoppable will to be the first to taste any dish, and I did it with pleasure, although I got scoldings.

Is there a culinary technique that you either thought up yourself or use in an unusual way?

I am not sure about culinary techniques invented by me, even though I believe that every cook is like a chemist because he starts, even not realizing it, a chemical process.I believe that a cook has two fundamental obligations in his art: preserve the memory of the flavors, the integrity of cultural, gastronomical and territorial traditions, and also contribute to the evolution of the alimentary habits therefore expanding the boundaries of taste. In my opinion, these obligations in the cooking are translated into a continuous research of local and distant traditions as well as of the cooking techniques that do not influence greatly the natural flavors of the alimentary products.

If you were interviewing potential kitchen employees, what would you ask them and what would you look for?

The answers that I would wait from an interview of a potential employee who wants to become a part of my staff are always the same: why he/she decided to do this job and what are his/her ambitions? I would look for the things that I think every employer would look for: to find serious and professional persons who have a passion for cooking.

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