MILAN–When you first meet Gnam Box’s Stefano Paleari and Riccardo Casiraghi, the couple behind the online platform that promotes home cooking and hipster dinner parties, you wonder how they stay so slim.
“When we don’t have guests, we try to be attentive to portions and keep a balanced diet. We also work out a lot,” Casiraghi told BACO, on our visit to their white-tiled kitchen, where all the magic happens.
The funny thing is, neither of the two has a background in the culinary arts or a lot of experience in the kitchen. Prior to starting Gnambox, Paleari worked in the graphic world and Casiraghi worked in interior design.
“It’s not like we came from huge families where our grannies and our moms were cooking meals all day every day. We simply love to take beautiful photos of good food and have friends over for dinner,” Paleari said.
After meeting online and falling in love, they created a national buzz around themselves with their social media savvy and a slew of special guests.
Everyone from Italian rock stars to their own mothers have cooked at the Gnambox burners, enriching the website with a home cookin’ feel and friends’ cherished recipes.
And many of these guests are in the fashion world too. Knitwear scion Angela Missoni has shared her family’s simple recipes like baked squash and panna cotta. Up-and-comers like Brazilian model Rodrigo Braga; Matteo Gioli, Ilaria and Veronica Cornacchini of Super Duper Hats and Viola Naj-Oleari and Marta Caffarelli of Milanese jeweler Atelier VM are just a few trend-influencers that have graced the family-style Gnambox marble-top table – the first thing one sees when entering the duo’s home.
Italian cuisine, with a modern twist is what sets the duo apart from other TV cooking shows. Recipes like savory pies with artichokes and cumin, and cauliflower strudel, are just a few dishes that are a modern play on old standards. There are also international ones too like piri piri chicken and chicken burgers with paprika and rosemary.
“Sometimes it is the simple recipes like just plain pasta that has major success. People really come to the site, because they are really ready to cook,” Casiraghi said.
Gnam Box’s recent projects include: a trip to Israel, a cooking exhibition during Design Week at Milan’s fashionable 5Vie district and a spot at the Expo Gate.
With the spotlight on Italian food like never before in light of the World’s Fair, and all the wannabe Italian cooking shows in the states and in the UK, it is a wonder why Gnam Box is not translated in English yet. Stay tuned!
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: ERA Olive Oil: Liquid Gold, Gnam Box: The Hipster’s Dinner Party, EXPO GUIDE TO MILAN, Mumbai’s Le 15: Chewing on Couture, Alessandro Enriquez of An Italian Theory , Interview with Russian Oligarch Yelena Baturina, Brigitte Niedermair on Man’s Fixation with Fashion, Food
