Gennaro Contaldo OSI (; born 20 January 1949) is an Italian chef known for his association with his British

protégé Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

Jamie Oliver Jamie Trevor Oliver Order of the Star of Italy, OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and o ...

, and his partnership with fellow Italian chef Antonio Carluccio and their

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

television series '' Two Greedy Italians''.

Early life

Contaldo grew up in the small village of Minori on the

Amalfi Coast The Amalfi Coast ( or ) is a stretch of coastline in southern Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno. It is located south of the Sorrentine Peninsula and north of the Cilentan Coast. Attracting international tourists o ...

, developing his love for food from days he spent hunting with his father and grandfather, and collecting herbs for his mother. He began working in local restaurants at the age of eight.

Career

Contaldo left Italy in 1969 for England where he worked in the kitchen at Barnet General hospital. He married in 1974 and had three children - he later had two more children with his current partner. He briefly established an Italian antiques business before returning to cooking. Contaldo's inspiration to cook in England was partly due to the availability of game and fungi, both important components of Amalfitan cuisine. In media interviews, Contaldo has frequently voiced his enthusiasm for foraged wild food, especially mushrooms.Telegraph news article, October 5, 2000
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/ref>Times news article, September 17, 2004
Contaldo later worked for popular London restaurants in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Historically the northern part of the Civil Parish#An ...

, and at Antonio Carluccio's Neal Street Restaurant in London's Covent Garden. He left Neal Street in 1998. Contaldo opened the Passione restaurant, in Charlotte Street, London, in 1999. Passione was awarded 'Best Italian Restaurant 2005' by the Tio Pepe Restaurant Awards. Passione closed in March 2009 due to decreased business as a result of the

late-2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

.Bloomberg news article, March 25, 2009
In April 2003, Contaldo published his first cookbook, ''Passione'', which is dedicated to the Amalfitan style of cooking. The cookbook won 'Gourmand World Cookbook - Best Italian Cuisine Book' for 2003. His second book, ''Gennaro's Italian Year'', was published in September 2006. His third book, ''Gennaro's Italian Home Cooking'', was published in September 2008, and his fourth, ''Gennaro's Easy Italian'', was published in March 2010. His most recent book, "Panetteria: Gennaro's Italian Bakery", was published in September 2016. Contaldo is also known for his association with Jamie Oliver, whom he first met at Neal Street Restaurant in the 1990s. The two chefs have since maintained a close friendship and professional relationship. Oliver even once put up a reward for information when Contaldo's restaurant, Passione, was burgled in 2003.BBC news article, September 25, 2003
Contaldo has appeared on many of Oliver's television shows, such as ''

The Naked Chef ''The Naked Chef'' is a BBC Two Cooking show, cooking programme starring Jamie Oliver. It debuted in April 1999, and originally ran for three series plus three Christmas specials, and was produced by Optomen Television for the BBC. The show was O ...

''. He made a comic appearance as one of Oliver's

sous-chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members of th ...

s on Food Network's ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, wh ...

'', in a battle against famed Italian-American chef

Mario Batali Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, and former restaurateur. Batali co-owned restaurants in New York City; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Newport Beach, California; Boston; Singapore; Westport, Connecticut; and ...

. Contaldo also developed menus for Oliver's UK restaurant chain Jamie's Italian, in which he is a business partner. In 2011 he toured the Italian regions alongside Antonio Carluccio in a four-part series for the BBC, "The Two Greedy Italians". This was followed up by a second series which aired in 2012, "The Two Greedy Italians: Still Hungry". Contaldo has made cooking appearances on numerous other television shows. On

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

's Saturday morning show ''

Saturday Kitchen ''Saturday Kitchen Live'' (formerly Saturday Kitchen) is a British food television programme typically broadcast on Saturday mornings between 10:00 and 11:30 on BBC One. It is also available on BBC iPlayer. It is currently hosted by Matt Tebb ...

'', he set a record of 16.36 seconds for making a three-egg

omelette An omelette (sometimes omelet in American English; see spelling differences) is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs), fried with butter or oil in a frying pan. It is a common practice for an omelette to include fillings such as chiv ...

. In 2014 he was also awarded a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the most

ravioli Ravioli (; : ''raviolo'', ) are a type of stuffed pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough. Usually served in broth or with a sauce, they originated as a traditional food in Italian cuisine. Ravioli are commonly square, though ...

made in two minutes. Contaldo is a brand ambassador for the Italian holiday company Citalia. Since 2010, when he founded it, Contaldo has uploaded regularly on his YouTube channel. He also often appears on Jamie Oliver's YouTube channel. As of July 2022, Contaldo's channel has received over 36 million views and he has 600,000 subscribers.

Media

Television appearances

*The Food Programme (1996-2006 - 2 programmes) *Breakfast (1997-2006 - 2 programmes) *Fresh Food (4 August 1999) *Self-Sufficiency (22 October 2000) *

- The Italian Job (2001) *Saturday Kitchen (2001- 2024 - 10+ programmes) *

Jamie's Kitchen ''Jamie's Kitchen'' is a five-part British documentary television series that aired on Channel 4 from 5 November to 10 December 2002. It follows chef Jamie Oliver as he attempts to train a group of 15 unemployed youths, who will—if they complet ...

(2002) *The Way We Cooked (2002 - 2003 - 3 programmes) *Ruby (16 May 2002) *Jim Davidson's Generation Game (2002) *Return to Jamie's Kitchen (2003) *Jamie's School Dinners (2005) *Jamie's Australian Diary (2006) *Jamie at Home (2007) *Jamie At Home Christmas Special (2007) *Iron Chef America - Served as one of Jamie Oliver's sous chefs during his battle with Mario Batali (2007) *Cooking the Books (2008) *Jamie Cooks.... Christmas (2008) *Oliver's Twist (2009) *Jamie's Family Christmas (2009) *Rachel Allen: Home Cooking (30 January 2010) *Jamie Does (2010) *Fern (April 2011) * Two Greedy Italians (2011) with Antonio Carluccio *Jamie Cooks Summer (2011) *Jamie's Christmas Lock-In (2011) *Jamie & Jimmy's Food Fight Club - Episode 3 (2012) *Two Greedy Italians: Still Hungry (2012) with Antonio Carluccio *Food and Drink (2014) *Jamie's Comfort Food (2014) *Antiques Road Trip (2016) *Jamie Cooks Italy (2018) * Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy - London (2022)

Radio Appearances

*Woman's Hour (BBC Radio 4) 13 September 2004

Books

*Passione (2003) *Gennaro's Italian Year (2006) *Gennaro's Italian Home Cooking (2008) *Gennaro's Easy Italian (2010) *Two Greedy Italians (2011) *Two Greedy Italians Eat Italy (2012) *Gennaro: Let's Cook Italian (2012) (Pavilion) *Gennaro: Slow Cook Italian (2015) (Pavilion) *Panetteria: Gennaro's Italian Bakery (2016) (Interlink Books) *Gennaro's Fast Cook Italian (2018) (Pavilion) *Gennaro's Pasta Perfecto! (August 19, 2019) (Pavilion) *Gennaro's Limoni: Vibrant Italian Recipes Celebrating the Lemon (October 12, 2021) (Pavilion) *Gennaro's Cucina Rustica (February 2, 2023 - UK Release Date) (Pavilion) *Gennaro's Verdure (March 14, 2024 - UK Release Date) (Pavilion) *Slow (October 24, 2024 - UK Release Date) (Pavilion)

References

External links

*
Gennaro Contaldo
-

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Books by Gennaro Contaldorecipes on BBCJamie's Italian restaurants
{{DEFAULTSORT:Contaldo, Gennaro Italian chefs 1949 births Living people People from the Province of Salerno Italian expatriates in England Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom Italian television chefs