Gennaro Contaldo Biography
Gennaro Contaldo OSI is an Italian chef most known for his work with British protégé Jamie Oliver, as well as his collaboration with fellow Italian chef Antonio Carluccio in the BBC Two television series Two Greedy Italians.
How old is Gennaro Contaldo? – Age
He is 74 years old as of 20 January 2023. He was born in 1949 in Minori, Italy.
Gennaro Contaldo Family – Education
Contaldo grew up in the little village of Minori on the Amalfi Coast, where he grew up hunting with his father and grandfather and collecting herbs for his mother.
Gennaro Contaldo Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $10 Million.
Gennaro Contaldo Restaurants – Career
In 1969, Contaldo moved to England and worked in the kitchen of Barnet General Hospital. He got married in 1974 and had three kids. With his current partner, he had two more kids. Before returning to cooking, he briefly established an Italian antiques business. Contaldo’s motivation to cook in Britain was part of the way because of the accessibility of game and parasites, both significant parts of Amalfitan food. Contaldo has frequently expressed his enthusiasm for foraged wild food, particularly mushrooms, in interviews with the media.
Later, Contaldo worked at Antonio Carluccio’s Neal Street Restaurant in Covent Garden and other well-known London establishments in St. John’s Wood. In 1998, he left Neal Street.
In 1999, Contaldo opened the Passione restaurant on London’s Charlotte Street. The Tio Pepe Restaurant Awards named Passione the “Best Italian Restaurant 2005.” Passione closed its doors in March 2009 due to less business during the recession of the late 2000s.
In April 2003, Contaldo distributed his most memorable cookbook, Passione, which is committed to the Amalfitan way of cooking. The 2003 “Gourmand World Cookbook – Best Italian Cuisine Book” award went to the book. Gennaro’s Italian Year, his second book, was released in September 2006. Gennaro’s Italian Home Cooking, his third book, came out in September 2008, and Gennaro’s Easy Italian, his fourth book, came out in March 2010. The most recent book he has written is titled In September 2016, “Gennaro’s Italian Bakery” was released.
Additionally, Contaldo is well-known for his relationship with Jamie Oliver, whom he first met in the 1990s at the Neal Street Restaurant. Since then, the two chefs have maintained a professional and close friendship. When Contaldo’s restaurant Passione was burgled in 2003, Oliver even offered a reward to anyone who could provide information. Many of Oliver’s shows, like The Naked Chef, have featured Contaldo. On Food Network’s Iron Chef America, he made a comedic appearance as one of Oliver’s sous-chefs in a competition against Mario Batali, a well-known Italian-American chef. Additionally, Contaldo created the menus for Jamie’s Italian, a UK restaurant chain owned by Oliver and his business partner.
“The Two Greedy Italians,” a four-part BBC series, followed him and Antonio Carluccio on a tour of the Italian countryside in 2011. A second series, titled “The Two Greedy Italians:,” aired in 2012 as a follow-up to this. Still Starving
Numerous other television shows have featured Contaldo as a cook. He set a record for making an omelette with three eggs in 16.36 seconds on Saturday morning show Saturday Kitchen on BBC1. He also received a Guinness World Record in 2014 for making the most ravioli in two minutes.
The Italian vacation rental company Citalia uses Contaldo as a brand ambassador. Contaldo has been posting videos to his YouTube channel on a regular basis ever since he started it in 2010. Additionally, he appears frequently on Jamie Oliver’s YouTube channel. Over 36 million people have viewed Contaldo’s channel as of July 2022, and he has 600,000 subscribers.