Born and raised in Venice, Enrica Rocca has Italian food in her blood. Having lived between London and Venice, she brought Venetian cooking with her—and now teaches others how to cook like a real Italian. With two cookery schools—one in each city—Rocca has slowly risen to fame, her cooking schools being voted as some of the world’s finest.
But when it comes to eating Italian food, she admits she never eats in Italian restaurants outside of Italy.
“I enjoy discovering the local specialties,” she explained in an interview with Suitcase Magazine. “I also know how difficult it is to replicate any cuisine outside of its original country. A cuisine is built around the local ingredients, so exporting a culinary culture is really difficult.”
According to Rocca, you can’t access the same ingredients, not everything can be exported, and compromises are not always successful. “It’s difficult to replicate Neapolitan dishes in Venice, never mind replicating those dishes across the world,” she stresses.
“It is all about the quality of the ingredients, which is why it is so important to eat local,” says Rocca. “Good ingredients are expensive in today’s world, so eating well represents a big sacrifice, but it’s well worth it for our health and happiness.”
Local ingredients are at the core of her cooking philosophy. Rocca’s school in Venice, housed in the family palazzo, gives clients the chance to spend the day as a true Venetian—discovering the freshest local seafood at Rialto Market before returning to her kitchen to enjoy a day of warmth, humor, local Veneto wines and delicious food.