Venice between Kitchen and Atelier

by Zaira Zarotti (The Freaky Table)

I met Zaira when I was the Art Director of D la Repubblica - she was discovered through Instagram by one of my colleagues. Seeing how beautiful her work was, I called her up to do features for the food section of the magazine. After I left D and returned to Venice full-time, I asked her if she would be interested in doing a cookbook. She enthusiastically replied that she had already been working on an idea that was a reflection of her Venetian lifestyle in an artistic household, one that demonstrated the relationship between the kitchen and the artist studio – research involving authentic recipes passed down through generations – ingredients, colors, preparation, and final results. Her evocative and poetic images in chiaroscuro are similar to Dutch paintings but with a contemporary focus. The book was published by Elzeviro in October 2024.