The Superwomen of TuttoToscana!
By Mayte Almada
Photos by Isabela Elizondo
Tuscany is the birthplace of Super Tuscans, wines made in this region with international grapes. On a similar note, TuttoToscana is represented by “Superwomen” from diverse international backgrounds. In this blog post, Mayte Almada chats with some of the women involved in the TuttoToscana team this year. FUA faculty member and Special Event Management specialist Nora Takacs, from Hungary, is guiding student managers towards leading events and interacting with clients in the US. Silvana Zanella is a pastry chef from Mexico who has studied with Apicius before. She is back in Florence for a special internship program and will be joining the team for TuttoToscana’s Area 4 in NYC.
Nora and Silvana are important key players in the upcoming events at the James Beard Foundation in NYC. They represent diverse perspectives and roles, and are united by a feminine strength and universal passion for Italian gastronomy.
Prof. Nora Takacs is an event planner who declares that it was love at first sight the day she arrived in Florence for the first time. She has been living in Firenze for eight years now with no plans to go back home. Nora is excited to share, in addition to our Tuscan menus, her love for Florentine art, history, gastronomy, and lifestyle to our guests in New York City. Her everyday objective is to create “unforgettable happy moments for her guests” at the events she plans and manages for Florence University of the Arts, including the NYC events developed with her fellow TuttoToscana faculty members.
Silvana is a pastry chef who has trained in various parts of the world. She seized the opportunity to go back to Florence and demonstrate her culinary skills in Florence, the very place where she first decided to specialize in pasticceria. She is very excited to be involved in a once in a lifetime experience at JBF, and is ready to “both share and expand her knowledge.” Silvana can’t wait to work beside renown Italian chefs, present the recipes she’s been testing here in Florence with Head Pastry Chef Simone De Castro, and be able to showcase her expert culinary skills.
Fellow readers/followers, we invite you to keep up with our chronicling of these two “Superwomen of TuttoToscana” (and of course the rest of the team as well) who are preparing to create some fantastic memories for our US public!