Interview with Nicoletta Tavella of La Cucina del Sole in Amsterdam
In Italy they say: “A tavola non si invecchia” – at the table you never grow old.
Food is not only about taste, but especially about taking time, cooking together and enjoying the moment. That is exactly the atmosphere Nicoletta Tavella has been sharing for more than twenty years with her cooking school Cucina del Sole in Amsterdam.
We share a kitchen and a storage space, so we run into each other regularly. Usually a little rushed, because I am busy and “we have to keep going.” Nicoletta fortunately always has time for a short pause. “Want a coffee?” she asks. And then we catch up for a moment.
Interview with Nicoletta Tavella
Over the years her cooking school activities have become increasingly busy and there is practically a cooking class scheduled every evening. It has been a while since I last saw Nicoletta working in the kitchen for a catering event. I also know her from her cookbooks, product development, food photography and even her tarot practice. How does she combine all of that? Time to ask how it all works.
From Genoa to Amsterdam: the story behind Cucina del Sole
Job: I have known you for quite a few years now and I see you as a very diverse person: from translation to cooking, Italian catering, and also recipe development, product development, food photography, vlogging, tarot reading and a busy agenda with cooking classes at Cucina del Sole. Don’t you ever get tired?
Nicoletta: Yes, sometimes I do get tired. All my hobbies have become work. I stopped doing catering some time ago because it wasn’t my main passion and I only did it because I wasn’t yet earning enough with the cooking classes.
Job: What do you do for yourself? I mean to recharge and stay fit for work?
Nicoletta: I exercise twice a week, meditate regularly and walk a lot. Walking is a kind of active meditation for me and I get many nice ideas and insights while walking. I also eat healthy and lately I eat less than before. And for exactly one year now I haven’t been drinking alcohol anymore. One of the best decisions of my life.
Job: You are Italian and you come from Liguria. How did you end up in the Netherlands?
Nicoletta: I was born in Genoa but I lived everywhere in Italy except in my birthplace, where my family comes from. My parents lived in Palermo at the time and when I was nine months old we moved to Bologna, then to Piemonte and finally to Puglia, in the capital Bari, where I lived until I was twenty two.
I came to the Netherlands simply with an Interrail ticket. When I was nineteen, after finishing high school, I went on an interrail trip through Europe with three friends. We decided to visit Amsterdam as well. At that time I knew absolutely nothing about this city; I had never even seen a photo of it.
We walked from Central Station to Leidsegracht where our youth hostel was and I immediately fell in love with Amsterdam. I told my friends right away that I wanted to live here.
On the same day I also fell in love with an Amsterdammer. We first had a long distance relationship for three years. During every holiday I traveled to Amsterdam or he came to visit me in southern Italy. At some point I decided to move here and that was exactly forty years ago. I have never regretted it, quite the opposite. We were together for twelve years and we are still friends.
The start of Cucina del Sole
Job: And I suppose you learned Italian cooking at home? From your mother or maybe an aunt?
Nicoletta: Of course I learned it at home from my mother and also from my grandmother and grandfather on my mother’s side, who both cooked very well. I also experimented a lot in the kitchen myself based on cookbooks and cooking magazines.
Job: And can you tell us how La Cucina del Sole started?
Nicoletta: A friend asked me if I wanted to give cooking classes at the Volksuniversiteit in Amstelveen because supposedly I could cook good Italian food. At that time I was still working as an interpreter and translator. I didn’t know if I could do it, but I thought: I will try it and see what happens.
I did it as a hobby cook for two years and then I decided to change careers. That was in November 2002 when I went to the Chamber of Commerce to register La Cucina del Sole.
From catering to a cooking school
Job: It has been a while since I saw you doing Italian catering. Have you completely stopped?
Nicoletta: I haven’t done it for several years now. Cooking for others is not my main passion, I prefer teaching cooking.
Job: I imagine there is more routine in the cooking school. Don’t you miss the dynamics of catering?
Nicoletta: Not at all. I really do not miss carrying heavy equipment, coming home late and still having to wash dishes at one in the morning, standing behind a buffet… that kind of thing. It was never really my thing.
Job: Do you think you might ever return to catering, perhaps for exclusive dinners or small private events?
Nicoletta: Never ever. It was only a temporary solution.
Job: Do you know authentic Italian restaurants in Amsterdam that also offer catering? Where could a client go for authentic Italian catering at home or at the office?
Nicoletta: I think Pianeta Terra in the Beulingstraat is a fantastic restaurant, but I don’t think they do catering. Nowadays there are countless Italian restaurants in Amsterdam that cook very well; Italian cuisine is really the most popular cuisine in this city. Honestly I wouldn’t know who offers it as catering, because I never order Italian food myself.
“A tavola non si invecchia”: food as a lifestyle
Job: What did you take from your time as a caterer into your cooking school?
Nicoletta: Nothing. It was actually the other way around: I first started the cooking school and only afterwards I did catering. So I prepared dishes that were already popular at the cooking school.
Job: In Italy you often hear the saying “poco ma buono” – little but good. How important is authenticity to you when Italian dishes are adapted to Dutch tastes? I ask because I once ate spaghetti on a campsite with Italian friends and there was hardly any sauce in it, at least much less than we Dutch are used to. Do you recognize that?
Nicoletta: Yes, I recognize that. Dutch people usually put far too many ingredients in Italian food, like too much sauce and also “Italian herbs” from one jar. Those simply do not exist in Italy. No one would put seven or eight different herbs in a dish. We are really more about “less is more.” No mushrooms or other extra ingredients in a bolognese. Here everything is often made too heavy or too complicated.
Job: Have you sometimes adapted your recipes to the wishes of customers in the cooking studio, or is the cooking exactly as in Italy?
Nicoletta: No, we cook exactly as in Italy. There is no point in teaching people something that is not authentic.
Cooking with the seasons
Job: How important are seasonal products and regional ingredients in your Italian kitchen? Are there dishes you cook in winter or summer that you would not cook in another season?
Nicoletta: Here in the Netherlands we have tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines and peppers all year round, so it is easy to use them anytime. Sometimes I adjust dishes with seasonal ingredients, but not always because then I would have to change my menus too often and that is not practical.
They are local products grown in greenhouses here and therefore available all year. Like basil for example: I let people make pesto all year round, not only in summer.
I do have different versions of certain dishes that are made with courgette in summer and with pumpkin in autumn, but I am not overly strict about seasonal ingredients. When we give the Neapolitan cooking workshop we make parmigiana di melanzane with aubergines all year round because it is simply delicious.
Working with cooking teachers
Job: What do people learn in your cooking school that they would not easily experience in a restaurant or through catering?
Nicoletta: They learn the home style Italian kitchen. The way mothers and grandmothers cook.
Job: You have gathered quite a team of Italian chefs around you by now. What makes a good Italian chef in your opinion?
Nicoletta: In fact most of my team are not chefs but cooking teachers. A few of them work as professional chefs but that is the minority. The rest are like me: good home cooks who became teachers. Being a good restaurant chef does not automatically mean you are a good teacher. Teaching and cooking are two completely different things.
Job: And what makes these teachers able to pass on your approach to workshop participants?
Nicoletta: They first assist in many classes with me as the lead teacher. Afterwards they start teaching themselves, but always with me next to them so I can see what needs improvement or adjustment. They learn from me how to do it the La Cucina del Sole way.
The future of Cucina del Sole
Job: Do you think your guests really come to learn something or is it mostly about the experience and a fun evening out?
Nicoletta: Individual participants mostly come to really learn something. Team building groups or groups of friends and families usually come to enjoy a nice evening together.
Job: The schedule of cooking classes is often fully booked. Is there still room for another Italian cooking school in Amsterdam?
Nicoletta: I think there is room for everyone who has something to offer and who does it well. But I would add one thing: only do it if it is truly your passion. It is hard work and doing it “only for the money” does not work anymore nowadays.
Job: What advice would you give young Italian entrepreneurs who want to start a catering or food concept in Amsterdam?
Nicoletta: Only do what you really enjoy yourself and not what you think might sell well. Be authentic.
Job: Where would you like La Cucina del Sole to be in five years?
Nicoletta: I make no plans at all, just like in the beginning. In 2002 I never imagined my company could become twenty four years old because I was just improvising. And I am still improvising. It is my favorite way of working. I will continue as long as I enjoy it and after that… we will see.
At the Italian table time seems to stand still
With La Cucina del Sole, Nicoletta Tavella has over the years earned a permanent place in the culinary world of Amsterdam. What started as a spontaneous experiment with cooking classes has grown into a popular cooking school where people discover the Italian kitchen as it is cooked at home: simple, authentic and focused on good ingredients.
Regularly, late in the evening after finishing a catering event, I stop by the kitchen to put the catering equipment back into the storage. From a workshop that finished hours earlier there are often still people sitting at the table. A bottle of limoncello on the table, another cup of coffee.
As they say in Italy: “A tavola non si invecchia.”
Anyone who would like to learn more about the cooking classes and workshops of La Cucina del Sole can visit the website or follow Nicoletta on Instagram via @lacucinadelsoleamsterdam. Her own product line can be found via @midorigreensalt.