Advertiser Maria Pia Favaretto, with her pumpkin risotto and Pinot Noir

2017-10-04 How does the creator of one of today’s coolest university master’s degree programmes about food feel about food and the kitchen? We asked Maria Pia Favaretto, professor of Communication Strategy and Media Planning at Iusve (Istituto Universitario Salesiano di Venezia) in Venice, where she teaches a master’s degree programme in Web Marketing & Digital Communication and Creativity and Design in Communication.
Author of La strategia di comunicazione nell’era digitale (“Communication strategy in the digital age”), Maria Pia founded and directs Iusve Lab, a centre of excellence for communication at Iusve, and is teaching coordinator of the Master Food & Wine 3.0 - Web Marketing & Digital Communication programme she created with semiologist Mariano Diotto, head of the communication sciences department at the university in Venice, to train digital marketing professionals in the food and agriculture sector.
A professional communicator for more than twenty years, she has created numberless campaigns for international companies. In addition to her academic career, she now works in coaching and consulting services in the field of marketing and integrated communication strategies for a number of companies in Italy and abroad.
Maria Pia, what do you think, when entering your kitchen?
“I have always seen the kitchen as a warm, welcoming place, a place to take a break. Cooking is a sort of dynamic meditation for me. I like to think about what to cook, drawing my inspiration from what I have in the kitchen.”
What dish best represents your life, and why?
“Definitely a risotto. Especially pumpkin risotto. It reminds me of my childhood, of my grandmother, who often made it for the whole family when the weather was starting to cool down in the fall. We would sit down with my aunts and uncles and cousins, all around a big table, for this ritual. The particular shade of yellow, a particularly warm hue, made me feel happy and gave me that sense of cosiness that comes from being together once the summer is over. My kitchen now has a wall in this bright, joyful colour.”
What wine gets your heart beating?
“Pinot noir, definitely. Because it’s a difficult, elegant wine. When it’s made well, it is truly irresistible. It has the inebriating, rich scent of wild berries hidden deep in the woods. Its colour is refined, bold but not too strong, and it is a pure pleasure to see through the clear glass. The pinot noir grapevine yields very little fruit, which makes it even more of a privilege to be able to enjoy it, like everything that is hard to get!”
What is the top in the kitchen, according to you?
“Having somebody who tidies up and cleans up the kitchen after I’ve had my fun doing the creative bit. I know, it sounds snobby, but that’s the way it is! And then I like having dishes made of different shapes and materials, because the dish must go with the food it contains.” (cont’d)
 
Mariagrazia Villa