In Which I Appear On Italian Morning Television

Yes, there is a story behind this video. Get ready.

Last year, my good friend Alberico was arguably the most popular contestant on the first season of MasterChef Italia. He didn’t win, but as usual with non-winning contestants of these types of shows, he certainly did not fade away.

First, he was outed by the Italian press in connection with Tiziano Ferro, a famous musician who himself came out via memoir. (They’re just friends.) Then he was hired by Airest, a company that runs several high-end fast food chains, as their public face. From there he’s appeared on Buongiorno Cielo a couple times a week, chatting with the amusing host Paola Saluzzi at some ungodly hour of the morning and showing videos of quick and easy recipes. Then the two of them published a summer cookbook, with three more to follow, one for each season. And who knows what he’ll be up to next. The man is a force of nature.

In this cookbook, there is a recipe called Tagliolini Alla Cantera. It’s basically the most decadent version of my all-time favorite dish, cacio e pepe, and it was named after me. So Alberico had me come to his studio kitchen and cook the dish for him. And by “cook,” I mean he cooked it (really well, I might add) while I tried not to look or sound too ridiculous. It was shown on TV this morning, and hopefully housewives throughout Italy will be making it for lunch this afternoon.

The video is (obviously) in Italian, but you’ll get the idea. Try not to fall off your chair when you hear my Italian.