b'Chef GalataunscriptedWHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO?The reason I do what I do is that cooking and food found me. I grew up in myfamilys Italianrestaurant; I worked in the kitchen washing dishes and helping, and watching my father butcher meat and fish and make sauces and other things. Seeing how much they struggledcontrolling the consistency of the food and dealing with disgruntled cooks and chefs droveme to help my family by learning fast and working in the kitchenand I did and also found my passion and love for food and the kitchen and the biz. When it was time in high school todecide what you want to do, so to speak, the only thing for me was cooking. Upon graduatinghigh school, I was put in charge of the kitchen at 18, and the rest just happened.WHAT IS YOUR FIRST FOOD MEMORY?My earliest memory of food is my father torturing me during dinners by putting pieces ofoctopus and squid on my plate because I was literally terrified of themwhy, I dont know,but it grossed me outfunny. Equally memorable would be the smells of tomato sauce almostalways cooking in my mothers kitchen.WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DISH TO EAT?TO PREPARE?My favorite food to eat is the momo. The momo is a Tibetan dumpling made from tsampa,a toasted, ground barley flour. The filling varies by region; its usually vegetable. I think partof my love for momos stems from how I discovered them. I was in Dharamsala, the home ofthe Dalai Lama in the mountains of northern India. My girlfriend and I befriended a youngBuddhist monk. One night, he cooked us his favorite Tibetan food. We cooked and ate togetherlike a family. I will never forget that, or momos!IS THERE A FOOD YOU HATE/DONT LIKE?One type of food that I dont enjoy as much as the rest is certain cheeses. Sorry, but due to thefact that as a child I was extremely allergic to dairy, I shunned it, so my palate for cheeses isstill developing. Ive tasted them all and love to cook and create with them, but Im not thatguy who can just eat a whole wheel of cheese with bread and wine.IF YOU COULD HAVE ONLY ONE FOOD FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE,WHAT WOULD THAT FOOD BE?Bacon.WHAT OR WHO INSPIRES YOU?In life, I have many inspirations. Outside of cooking, my main inspirations have beenmy father, for his perseverance and persistence and achievements; my mother, for herhuge heart and for being able to hold down any situation; and, most recently, my beautifulgirlfriend, who has taught me the importance of travel and opened my eyes to the world.'