Armando Scannone, Gastronome

Armando Scannone is a Venezuelan engineer turned gastronome: gourmet chef, writer, and publisher. He has written many books, some of them in their 40th edition. The main objective of these books, specially the early ones, was to preserve authentic Venezuelan cuisine. He saw that the colonial cuisine, imported from Spain and adapted with local produce, was beginning to disappear to the new ways of French cooking, the Nouvelle Cuisine, and the New Spanish cuisine. So he started to interview older friends, chefs, and experts to recreate recipes that were disappearing from local menus. Thus he compiled 500 recipes in his Red Book (Mi Cocina - A la manera de Caracas) which soon became a hit. Four generations of Venezuelan women have been cooking from that book. Then came the Yellow Book, with menus, and the Green Book with light recipes and recipes for people with sugar problems. Then the Orange Book with recipes for lunch boxes (Mi Lonchera ) and so on. 

Scannone's parents came from Italy and he grew up in a large family where eating was a life priority for Antonia Scannone who conducted her kitchen and her maids with a tight fist. His interest in saving the colonial Caraqueño cuisine has made him a standard-bearer in Latin America. He has worked with experts in worldwide to share his passion and knowledge, visiting every celebrity chef. He is 92 and lives in Caracas.

NOTE: This program is conducted entirely in Spanish.

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