Loretta Fanella comes across as calm and graceful, but her work reveals layers of study and experience in some of the world’s top kitchens, from Cracco to the Adrià brothers and Enoteca Pinchiorri. Each stop changed her approach to pastry. What stayed constant is an elegant, colourful style and gelato as an essential element in many forms.

Interview at Host 2019

Carpigiani met her at Host 2019, where she created a dessert based on autumn colours and flavours. You can see it in this video.

Favourite flavour. Pistachio. She was certainly young when she first ate gelato, and she has always seen it as the perfect summer snack that refreshes the palate, good at any time of day and in any month.

What each kitchen taught her

Fabio Tacchella helped her enter the industry, a creative chef who is little known but full of ideas. Cracco gave her the confidence to be inventive with pastry. With the Adrià brothers in Spain she gained a complete view, seeing freeze-drying adapted to the kitchen and the gelling of many natural substances used in haute cuisine. That changed her pastry philosophy while she stayed tied to traditional Italian flavour. Respect for raw materials and ingredients came from Enoteca Pinchiorri, a landmark of Italian gastronomy.

Why gelato matters in a dessert

For Fanella, gelato refreshes and lightens a dessert. Guests are often already full by the end of a meal yet still want something sweet, and gelato keeps the dish from feeling heavy while making it more enjoyable.

Bring it to your business in New Zealand

If you run a restaurant or patisserie in New Zealand, gelato can make a dessert menu lighter and more varied. Explore Majors Group’s pastry machines and foodservice solutions, or build skills with Carpigiani Gelato University.

Source: Carpigiani news. Rewritten for New Zealand by Majors Group.