OUR HERITAGE
la famiglia è tutto
“la famiglia è tutto” - my Nonna’s favourite saying, “family is everything."
Our core family belief is to help each other; individual goals blend seamlessly with our family values. The family is the centre of our love and life.
From the late 1940’s my grandparents, Cypriot immigrants on my father’s side and Italian immigrants on my mother’s side, were industrious, hard-working and without any immediate family. Their families and history were left behind. That meant that they only had each other and a brand new start. From a young age, each child had a role and responsibility to contribute to the well-being of the family. This meant that both my mother and my father worked hard from an early age and both were dedicated and devoted to their parents. Nonna, my Italian grandmother was a great cook. Nonno, my Italian Grandfather, was a great resource-finder and farmer, who was physically fit and strong. He also was a hilarious story teller. After many years of cutting cane and suffering the perils of that job, they were offered a lease on a restaurant in Far North Queensland, called 'Al Buen Gusto', but better know as 'The Underground'. Here is where they both excelled. Whatever spare ground or yard there was, Nonna and Nonno grew as much as they could from eggplants to macadamias. Being self-sufficient was important to them. My mother was born in that restaurant and grew up scaffolded by the warmth, comfort and craziness of a busy commercial kitchen.
Our core family belief is to help each other; individual goals blend seamlessly with our family values. The family is the centre of our love and life.
From the late 1940’s my grandparents, Cypriot immigrants on my father’s side and Italian immigrants on my mother’s side, were industrious, hard-working and without any immediate family. Their families and history were left behind. That meant that they only had each other and a brand new start. From a young age, each child had a role and responsibility to contribute to the well-being of the family. This meant that both my mother and my father worked hard from an early age and both were dedicated and devoted to their parents. Nonna, my Italian grandmother was a great cook. Nonno, my Italian Grandfather, was a great resource-finder and farmer, who was physically fit and strong. He also was a hilarious story teller. After many years of cutting cane and suffering the perils of that job, they were offered a lease on a restaurant in Far North Queensland, called 'Al Buen Gusto', but better know as 'The Underground'. Here is where they both excelled. Whatever spare ground or yard there was, Nonna and Nonno grew as much as they could from eggplants to macadamias. Being self-sufficient was important to them. My mother was born in that restaurant and grew up scaffolded by the warmth, comfort and craziness of a busy commercial kitchen.
When I was born, my parents owned a catering company that provided for weddings and large functions within an old 3 acre garden estate. Our home was the center of every function and I recall many a night surrounded by sounds of laughter and loud music. I remember standing on a step ladder to help with cooking.
Food, family and fun seemed to be the main factors driving our families. The Cypriot connection also had strong ties with family along with a great sense of tradition, which was evident by the village food and old, wholesome ways of eating and cooking. Papou (Greek for grandfather) was an excellent farmer and gardener. No yard was without figs, grapes, mangoes and of course ya gotta have lots of lemons.
My beautiful Yia-Yia at home cooking
Now with my own family, I feel the family connection so fiercely, and so passionately and want to continue the tradition of the need to feed others, and feed them well. I started 'Wolf Packs' with the philosophy of my previous 2 generations of great providers, great cooks and sustainable farmers.
