Gennaro Contaldo began working in local restaurants at the age of eight.
14 Facts About Gennaro Contaldo
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Gennaro Contaldo left Italy in 1969 for England where he worked in the kitchen at Barnet General hospital.
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Gennaro Contaldo married in 1974 and had three children - he later had two more children with his current partner.
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Gennaro Contaldo briefly established an Italian antiques business before returning to cooking.
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In media interviews, Gennaro Contaldo has frequently voiced his enthusiasm for foraged wild food, especially mushrooms.
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Gennaro Contaldo later worked for popular London restaurants in St John's Wood, and at Antonio Carluccio's Neal Street Restaurant in London's Covent Garden.
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Gennaro Contaldo opened the Passione restaurant, in Charlotte Street, London, in 1999.
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Gennaro Contaldo is known for his association with Jamie Oliver, whom he first met at Neal Street Restaurant in the 1990s.
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Gennaro Contaldo has appeared on many of Oliver's television shows, such as The Naked Chef.
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Gennaro Contaldo made a comic appearance as one of Oliver's sous-chefs on Food Network's Iron Chef America, in a battle against famed Italian-American chef Mario Batali.
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Gennaro Contaldo developed menus for Oliver's UK restaurant chain Jamie's Italian, in which he is a business partner.
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Gennaro Contaldo has made cooking appearances on numerous other television shows.
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Gennaro Contaldo is a brand ambassador for the Italian holiday company Citalia.
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Since 2010, when he founded it, Gennaro Contaldo has uploaded regularly on his YouTube channel.