Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Gino D'Acampo
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an Italian chef Gino D'Acampo.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
My favorite pizza is the real Neapolitan - Italian sausage, friarielli, mozzarella and chilli.
I have a nap every afternoon like a little boy. Or an old man. Depending on how you look at it.
My mother would never say anything I cooked for her was great. She was always a 'Yeah, but' person. When she tasted my food, I used to say to her 'Don't tell me too straight, lie to me!' She couldn't even understand why I was on television.
I tell everybody that you haven't lived a good life if you haven't made a mistake.
I have wonderful memories of growing up on a farm with chickens running all around in the small southern Italian town of Torre del Greco.
I'd love everyone to try authentic Italian food.
Get on with your life and learn to become a better man and that's the way I live my life.
I'm very lucky because I can say to my wife, 'Is there any chance we can have shepherd's pie or this or that tonight,' and she does it very well - especially as I don't always want to cook!
I came from a very lower-working-class family in Torre del Greco.
The problem that people have is that they eat too large portion sizes. Italians have been eating pasta for hundreds and hundreds of years, and we've never been an obese nation. We do the pasta, the pizza, all the cheeses, but it all has to do with how much you eat.
Everything changed for me when my first son Luciano was born. That moment makes you realize you are not here by yourself any more and it is an experience that changes you.
I had wanted to be a dentist, but ended up being a chef. I think I've always had a fascination for jobs that have white jackets.
I'm the type of person who doesn't do television just for the sake of it.
We have a big garden; there's a swimming pool, and we keep chickens. I love them. I love getting up in the morning and collecting the eggs.
My father always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted, providing I was happy. He wanted me to go to school, but because I never wanted to, it was the only thing we argued about.
Only the French people say French food is the finest cuisine in the world. If you ask anyone else, they will tell you the best food in the world is Italian.
I understood food from a very early age. I understood the combination of ingredients very early.
My favorite breakfast that is nutritious and very quick to do is eggs. Of course not everyday because that's not good for you, but I like to have eggs in the morning at least three times a week as it gives me a lot of energy.
I always go back to Italy for holidays because I live half my life on the island of Sardinia.
People should always have a good bottle of extra virgin olive oil, a packet of pasta, tinned tomatoes and a good cheese somewhere in their fridge.
I think if you're a good person and you show that you learned from all the mistakes that you made you move on with your life. Everybody will accept that. Only an idiot will not accept that or keep reminding you of it and keep pointing that finger.
I had never seen an avocado until I came to London in 1994. They just weren't a feature of southern Italian cuisine.
For many, the gastronomic heart of Italy is the Emilia-Romagna region. Its capital is Bologna, which is often overlooked by tourists but has a beautiful historic centre and a lively yet chilled-out atmosphere.
I'm the king of napping. I can nap and I snore. Then I wake up, go to the toilet, wash my face, have a coffee and it's like a brand new day.
I thought, 'This is not going to drag me down, this is going to make me a better man.' So I came out of prison a man with a plan, determined to set up a business importing Italian ingredients.
Food should be simple, colorful and accessible to everybody.
The personality of a restaurant is very important.
I can cook in front of millions of people on TV, I don't care. But cooking for my own family really freaked me out. If they don't like it, they tell you.
I always remember my mum and dad arguing a lot and one main reason was lack of money. I realized very young that I always wanted to make money so I'd never have the same arguments like my mum and dad.
It was totally insane doing goat yoga in San Francisco.
I was a boy, so I decided to get married and then I will be a man.
Hearing other celebrities moaning about the bad things about being famous - there is no worst thing. If you don't want to be famous, just stop it and go and be a doctor or a teacher.
My wife is a very clever woman. She knows when to say something and when to bite her tongue.
French food is too poncy.
My house is very normal - only I have three dishwashers, two fridges and hobs everywhere.
I think it's a good thing that I eat well. Don't get me wrong, I go for fish and chips sometimes or the odd kebab, but you need more healthy food than bad.
With me and my family, we have nothing to hide.
My only ambition was to have a restaurant and bring real Italian food to this country. Television was never even part of my idea, so I can say without hesitation that I am living someone else's dream.
Between my brain and my mouth there should be a filter where common sense kicks in before I deliver a word, but I think when God made me he forgot the filter.
I am still around too many Italian people to start speaking like a guy from London. I live in Italy for six months of the year, all the people in my restaurants are Italian and it means that when I speak, it is always with an Italian accent in my head.
I'm a great believer in telling my children about turning my life around and I work a lot with younger teenagers when they are in trouble.
There is a huge misconception that you need to spend hours in the kitchen to produce something special.
Rushing around my restaurants and doing a lot of walking when I film in Italy and a bit of swimming and running keeps me thin.
The problem many people have with Italian food is they over-complicate it. Italian food is extremely simple.
If I'm feeling nostalgic, the first thing I do is open a packet of spaghetti, olive oil in a pan, garlic, a little bit of chili, a sprinkle of fresh parsley, and that's it. It reminds me of my mum.
I like Chinese and Indian food, but only every couple of weeks.
When I decide something, I have to do something to make it happen.
I'm the kind of guy who can't stay still.
I do what I want, I say what I want and I do it when I want. I live my life the way I want to live it, which I think people appreciate it.
My grandfather used to be a chef and I remember going to his restaurant to peel potatoes and clean his floor. He used to go out and kiss all the girls in the restaurant and I thought 'oh this is good... one day I want to be like him.'
Nowadays, everyone writes a cookbook. Models, singers, whatever, everybody thinks that they can do it and cook on TV. What they don't understand is that if you want to do it well, you need to put in the hours.
I like women. I enjoy the company of women. What's wrong with that?
The secret of making a mistake is not to regret it, or regret it until a certain point, but to learn from it.
We Italians respect food and ingredients more than anyone else.
My kids are not allowed to be fussy eaters. The problem with fussy children is their stupid parents. I run a family kitchen and in my house we don't have options. I never had options, why should they?
A lot of people believe Italian food is tasty because there are a lot of ingredients. But they don't understand that the reason why it's tasty is because there are less ingredients than in any other cuisine.
Venice is incredible. Although you may have seen it in pictures, you can't grasp how beautiful it is until you visit.
I'd much prefer to be at home with my family than go out.
Always buy dry pasta, not fresh. 90 percent of Italians use dried pasta as it keeps its al dente shape more perfectly when cooked.
My worst buy has always been cars and boats. I used to own two Ferraris, but as much as they're beautiful, they're a waste of money.
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