food&life education

MARIA-LUCREZIA Pastamadre Founder I was born in the southern Italian region of Puglia, and grew up with the healthy, sustainable and creative principles of the southern Italian Cucina Povera (poor man's cuisine), which is the basis of the famous Mediterranean cuisine. A tradition that is particularly close to my heart because it follows values that are very important to me: effective, simple and sustainable recipes and techniques for preparing and preserving healthy food with seasonal, fresh, local, mostly plant-based ingredients and raw materials. For me a philosophy of life, which is based on a daily practice of solidarity, deep relationships and zero-waste lifestyle habits. Before coming to Berlin, I studied art in Bologna. For me, Art and Food are two things that belong together: Food is an art that makes me experiment, question and research. And it is an Art in food to combine instinct, feelings, tradition and creativity in a loving and enjoyable way. Thanks to a careful mother, I learned not to be a passive consumer and I began experimenting in the kitchen with food as my first toy. I remember me being little and playing for hours with a piece of dough, naturally improving my skills and self-confidence by just repeating day-to-day domestic gestures. My grandmother used to express the idea of generosity, saying "all mouths are as sisters, and you should always share your food to those close to you". I took her teaching quite literally, and I've been cooking for my family and friends with love and passion since I was a little girl. I have been making homemade pasta, sourdough bread and pizza, cookies, fermented vegetables etc., learning all my mother's and grandmother's' secrets and now that I am a little older the time has come to share such a long and precious experience with all of you.

BENEDETTA My name is Benedetta and you should know that I’m in love with food: I daydream about new recipes and devour cookbooks!   Sharing my knowledge about bread and pizza makes me happy and this is why I joined Pastamadre. I believe in its philosophy that "cooking should be fun, that recipes should be flexible".   I believe in good and sustainable food but I’m also an avid supporter of the occasional indulgence. Nothing beats a slice of homemade chocolate cake eaten with friends.  During the day I work as a marketing manager but at night I become a baker: two years ago I took a break from my job to return to Italy (where I was born) and obtain the Bakery Chef diploma at ALMA cooking school. After that, I have worked in some bakeries between Italy and Berlin and now I'm back to doing what I love: sharing with you what I've learned!

MANANA I am Manana. My attachment to home-made food must have formed during my childhood in Georgia, where I was born. I think at first it was the fruits and vegetables of our garden that I fell in love with. During the summer holidays, with plenty of time and opportunity to observe, I would run into the garden in the morning to explore which plant flower had unfolded how over the night, which fruit had grown how big and which leaf had started to wilt. In the meantime, eating and dealing with food (in the broadest sense) has become an integral part of my individual life-policy. I am convinced that by continuously making myself aware of what I eat, how I eat, why I eat what I eat, I am enabling an important piece of freedom and self-determination, a possibility for free choice and radical expression of this choice. And last but not least, it is important to tell ourselves about how sourdough can give us a little piece of independence: Isn't that crazy? Just a few grains of grain and a few drops of water can give us not an illusion, but a true piece of freedom!

FRANZISKA My roots are in the deepest east of Germany, near the Polish border.   Even as a child, I loved to help cooking and even more to taste and snack. My grandma and mother cooked all the time and knew many old recipes. With the German reunification of West and East Germany a wave of new possibilities, new products and a new lifestyle arose, which almost completely displaced the appreciation of old traditions.   It was common that women in the GDR were always full-employed, but most of the housework and childcare was also there obligation and the promise of less work at home thanks to convenient products and ready-made food was more than welcome. It was a development that I only came to fully understand and regret as an adult. In my studies of cultural studies, I intensively dealt with food culture and its meaning and dedicated my master's thesis to the topic of "food and art". In the process, I became aware of the political and social role our food plays.   My love of cooking remained. Everything that has to do with eating, exploring new flavours and cooking techniques is interesting to me. Whenever I am abroad, the first thing I do is go to the nearest supermarket to see what unknown foods I can find and try there.    I really want to encourage people to be more engaged with their food. It's not just about satisfying hunger, but more importantly about independence from highly processed foods and complicated recipes. With the knowledge of the simplicity of cooking comes a great freedom as well as respect for our food. Therefore, I want to share and spread my passion by preparing meals together, talking, laughing and enjoying.

MANUELA I was born in Italy, in Modena, but I have southern blood in my veins. My mother's family comes from Salento - the lowest point of the Italian boot - where I spent many summer vacations as a child, learning about traditions and customs that are very different from those of northern Italy. As a Sagittarius with Aquarius ascendant, I have spent a good part of my life on the road, restlessly searching for a new destination. For years my path was marked by ambiguity and constant changes of place: from one study to another, from one job to another, from one attempt to another. The only constant was a sense of restlessness and frustration that I believed was caused by my inability to answer questions like, "What am I going to do in my life? Will I ever find a job that fits me?" and thus identify myself socially and fit into the schemes that society offered me. I felt rootless for a long time. In search of a place to belong, I moved to Berlin in 2011. Here I was welcomed by a wonderful big "family" and at the same time worked to create my own family. In 2013 Libero Giovanni, my first son, arrived like a light that illuminates the sky. Thanks to motherhood and the precious people I met along the way, I realized that the mistake was to look outside myself for the solution. So I began to look inward and turn what I thought was my weakness into my strength, adapting my organizational qualities to different professional fields, from art galleries to music festivals, from real estate to events.... To this day, I keep jumping from one thing to another, but I am happy and grateful to be able to do so and enjoy the endless opportunities it gives me. Maria Lucrezia is my "Berlin sister." We met in the German capital and shared our lives and growth together. I saw Pastamadre born in our home and I feel deeply connected to this project. Precisely because we apply the values that led to its creation to our daily lives and make them our own.

FRANK I am an original-born Berliner - and a "wanderer between the worlds". I have made it my mission to make differences fruitful for each other. ​ Cooking and baking attracted me at an early age - I baked my first cake at 16, a sponge cake roll! I had no idea what I was getting myself into! That's how I still approach cooking and baking today: I take recipes as inspiration not as a prescription.I love new recipes - and deviating from them. ​ As a trained electrician, trade union secretary, management consultant and employee of the Science Shop kubus at the TU Berlin, I am "at home in many worlds".   In the course of my life, I have begun to intensively engage with meditation and tantra and to include them in my seminar and training work. For over 30 years I have been designing and conducting seminars and workshops on sustainable development, self-awareness and communication skills. I also advise companies on sustainable innovation and transformation concepts. My morning meditation in stillness has become a fixed part of my daily routine. At some point I realised that baking bread, cooking jam - preparing food in general - relaxes me when I'm too busy and lost in my head again – when the days get too "dense". ​ When spring comes, I look forward to making dandelion jelly or elderflower jelly. When summer comes to an end, it's time for elderberry jam and in autumn comes quince jelly! For me, using seasonal fruit and vegetables also means consciously experiencing the passing of the seasons. ​ What attracts me to PASTAMADRE is the combination of a meditative attitude, healthy food and sustainable living.

ALICE Born in Italy, I developed a profound appreciation for food and the culture of eating together, showing love through food, and spending time together at the dinner table. In fact, eating for me is an experience that transcends mere nourishment, it's a source of joy, a way to nourish the soul, and a celebration of the importance of taking one's time, savoring every bite, and relishing the art of conversation. My experience in the hospitality and food & beverage industry shaped my mission to work towards more sustainable approaches to food. Now, my culinary journey is driven by my passion for wholesome, sustainable, and accessible nutrition. I joined Pastamadre because I strongly believe in the importance of sharing the love for food, and encouraging people to deepen their personal relationship with cooking. I invite everyone to take some time to (re)discover the pleasure of working with their hands, making the kitchen a place for fun and discovery. Fermentation, sourdough baking, and pasta making are my main areas of interest, and they all came with the wonderful gift of learning the art of patience. I am particularly passionate about fermentation because it's a captivating world of transformation, where the simplest ingredients evolve into complex, rich flavors. I see it as a powerful synergy of science and tradition, offering not only surprising taste experiences but also natural healing properties.