16 Comments
Nov 10, 2023Liked by Giulia Scarpaleggia

I love your cozy cooking area and love the red stove. I myself, prefer, gas. It's easier to adjust the temperature for me. I'm looking forward to seeing your place in person next year! I get so many ideas from you for my own personal space! Thank you, Giulia!

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I really can't wait to cook in the studio with you next year!

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Nov 10, 2023Liked by Giulia Scarpaleggia

Kind of baffling that you're promoting a gas stove when we all know that with climate change we need to switch to electric/induction stoves, and the fact that recent reports continue to highlight the health risks of gas stoves, especially to small children. I see that you use induction at home from the comments below, but it's just not really cool to be promoting a fossil fuel burning stove (let alone a new one) with the current climate crisis.

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If only we could have solar panels in our house. We are not allowed to have them as we are in a protected area of the Tuscan countryside, so we can not afford to have induction also in our studio. We do what we can.

Also, in Italy almost the 50% of our electric energy is still produced with fossil fuels. Europe is still working on a transition to renewable energy.

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A couple of things. It's fair enough that you can't afford to have a large induction oven in your studio-- having switched to induction at my apartment in Lucca, I'm aware of the increased costs, sadly. But a few of your other points need flagging-- yes, half of Italy is produced by fossil fuels, but it is falling rapidly, as it is in most of Europe, so any move to electrify is important as it immediately cuts down on fossil fuel use (and by law Italy need to do this completely within slightly over 25 years). More importantly is the fact that whilst you may not at this point be able to switch to induction, you are not doing what you can-- you are literally advertising gas stoves to your followers on instagram and your newsletter readers. That's the real problem. In a climate crisis you are advertising a product that will contribute to increased climate disasters, like the one Tuscany experienced just last week. That's the problem.

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Love the backsplash as well! Beautiful.

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Isn't it beautiful? Everybody notices it when stepping into the studio

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Nov 10, 2023Liked by Giulia Scarpaleggia

I’m curious to know why you still prefer to cook with gas? I am about to install a new kitchen and am thinking about an induction hob and electric ovens (having cooked with gas for years). Also, with your cooking classes, how do the participants get individual hands on cooking experience if you only have the one cooker?

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Hi Elena, I have gas in the studio and induction in my home kitchen, and I love both. The oven in the studio is electric, which I prefer to gas.

During the cooking classes everyone is involved in the preparations, like in a family: we cook around the table sharing tasks, and everyone gets to try to do things, from rolling out pasta to cutting vegetables.

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Nov 10, 2023Liked by Giulia Scarpaleggia

Do you have a preference between a gas hob and an induction one? Bertazzoni (love the hot red pepper colour of the stove!) do a lovely cooker with an induction hob

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Difficult to tell which is my favourite one. Induction for its practicality, precision, and how easy it is to clean it. Gas, on the other hand, is more versatile, you can toss food in the pan, and it allows me to have 5 or 6 hobs going on at the same time, while with induction sometimes I have to control their electrical absorption, especially when there is also the oven on.

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Nov 10, 2023Liked by Giulia Scarpaleggia

Thank you. Really useful!

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Love the look of your cosy cooking area! I too prefer a gas hob. Looking forward to following you. X ❤️

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Hi Guilia I just wanted to tell you that while on holiday in Bangkok I spotted 2 copies of Cucina Povera in the huge store Asia Books. Your book is truly going around the world 🌍

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It is such a welcoming place, and I know that because I've had the pleasure of having lunch with you and Tommaso :) At some point we will be redoing our little kitchen in Penne and I will be taking inspiration from yours!

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We lived in Tunis, Tunisia from 1998-2001. The house we lived in had two kitchens, one in the main house and one in a separate building. The kitchen in the separate building had a Bertazzoni range just like yours. It was huge. We were throwing a huge Thanksgiving party one year for Canadian and Americans and I wanted a ham. Being in a MUslim country the only place you could get one was a certain stall in the central market. Well, their idea of a ham consisted of a whole pigs shank, complete with a hairy hoof attached. My husband Rick had to cut the hoof and part of the leg in order for it to fit in the oven. It cooked for 3 days. Tasted like roast pork instead of ham but that's okay. We served 75 people pork and a turkey (which was done in the main kitchen) along with all the traditional sides. I loved the Italian Bertazzoni oven. I wish I had one here just don't have the space for it.

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