One of the first Italian food bloggers tells everything to our magazine: the beginnings, the relationship between cuisine and the web, and the partnership with Filippo La Mantia
Chiara Maci can boast of being one of the first Italian food bloggers. With his web space, “Chiara in Pentola”, she created a real empire of digital cuisine. Talking to her millions of followers with an open heart was the secret. And hands in the dough, of course.
Together with the chef Filippo La Mantia for some time, Maci has decided to write, with him, a fourhanded book where all their love for food and wine is told. Couple-life anecdotes, an analysis of today’s society and a comparison with the future one. The diners of the coming years. Will the digital win? We asked Chiara directly.
Chiara, when did you understand that cooking was your passion?
“At home with my family it was obvious to talk about food, eat, staying at the table for hours. Growing up and going to live alone, I perfectly realized, however, the need to cook. Then, when I decided to give up my degree in Law, I made a very specific thought: I wanted something more from cooking. Passion wasn’t enough”.
Among the recipes that you propose on your blog, which is your favourite?
“Maybe my mother’s Parmigiana: I didn’t want to eat it for years, and then one day I madly fell in love with it.”
What was the spark that made you want to write the fourhanded book with your partner, who is also a chef, Filippo La Mantia?
“We wanted to tell our quarrelsome but fun relationship in the kitchen and beyond. We have different tastes and work in the same field, so there is often a clash of opinions. But this, ironically, also gives us a lot of balance”.
How can you become a successful food blogger?
“I don’t know it today. I started in completely different times. Everything was very spontaneous: all was a novelty and a joy. Today it seems that the world of social networks and the web has already been written, so if you want to stand out, you must have something to say”.
Cooking and digital world: will this winning combination have a long life?
“It will. Digital allows speed, ease of use and comfort. Impossible to do without it”.
Today the world of food bloggers is totally packed: what is the future of this profession?
“Too many bloggers, it’s true, but many are there just for passion. There are people I know who have been writing for years when they have the chance, without any desire to turn it into a job. Then there are those who, starting from a blog, became a photographer, an author, an influencer. Surely they will be the best at communicating “.
