Talking with Giulia

We asked some questions to Giulia Scarpaleggia, author of the super famous “Jules Kitchen”, one of the most renowned and most loved blogs in Italy and abroad. She lives in the Tuscan countryside between Siena and Florence. She wrote some cookbooks (La cucina dei mercati in Toscana is the last one), she is a professional food writer and food photographer as well that teaches Tuscan cooking classes, photography and writing.

Let's start talking about photography: you are a talented professional food photographer who works for magazines and companies, which camera/lens do you use?

I’ve been using a Canon 6D in the last two years, and I love it. As for the lenses, I use mainly a 24-105 f.4.0, and sometimes my reliable 50mm f 1.4.

How do you edit your photos?

Lightroom. I try to take the best photo I can on the set to spend less time editing after. I shoot tethered to my computer through Lightroom and I do the basic adjustments right on the moment, then when the photo shoot is over I quickly browse through the photos to make the final edits. It usually doesn’t take more than a couple of minute per photo.

In 2016 you opened your personal studio, a kitchen/ studio where you cook your seasonal and traditional recipes and you shoot your beautiful photos, what kind of lighting do you use?

Our studio has two large French windows facing south, so I use just that natural light that usually floods thorough the windows for the whole day. I tend not to use artificial lightning, so a tripod is my best friend, especially in winter when the daylight hours are shorter.

Where do you find your inspiration for your photos?

Cookbooks and cooking magazines are still my main source of inspiration, along with Pinterest and Instagram. I learnt a lot thanks to Hélène Dujardin and Ellen Silverman, two great food photographers who I am proud to call friends. In my photography food is always the hero, so food styling skills are as important as photography skills. In this, Tami Hardeman is such an inspiration!

In your studio you offer Tuscan cooking lesson, food photography and food writing workshops, what is the most beautiful side of teaching?

I love meeting people and sharing my enthusiasm and curiosity about cooking, food writing and food photography. You learn something new every time. Then you always end up sitting at the table, sharing that food you talked so long about. Well, maybe this is always my favourite part!

Do you have someone that you consider as a teacher, a person who had a great influence on your cooking?

I have two great examples. The first one is my grandmother Marcella, almost ninety years old and still cooking with curiosity. She cooks what the season has to offer, traditional Tuscan recipes, but she is also curious about new ingredients. She discovered turmeric and she somehow learnt that it might be good for you, so she started adding turmeric to her risotto, to her chicken… everything became yellow!The other ‘teacher’, if I can define him like this, is Jamie Oliver. I’ve always admired his enthusiasm, how he would handle ingredients with his hands, his messy but accessible style. I can’t stand big chefs that put themselves on a pedestal, I like how he wanted to share food and cooking as a part of the everyday life, making it accessible to everyone.

Let’s talk about Tommaso, your business partner and your life partner: which is his role in your blog and in the Juls Kitchen Studio?

He is the number one taster, as he proudly defines himself. He is the other half of Juls’ Kitchen, the tech geek taking care of the blog, of Social Media, of promotion and clients. He built the Studio, working with my father and giving a home to our dreams. We plan together what to share on the blog and which should be our communication strategy, he makes all the video recipes and we teach together during our food writing and food photography workshop.

What is your favourite cookbook?

This is a very difficult question. There is a cookbook for every season, I would say, as when the weather changes you feel inspired by different foods, or approaches to food. Lately I fell in love with Nigel Slater and I am quickly catching up on all his books: his food is always inviting and vibrant.

You are a great food writer, when was the love for this form of writing born and how?

It was born thanks to the blog. My first and deepest love has always been for cooking, for feeding people. When I started my blog in 2009, I realised I enjoyed cooking as much as I loved writing about food, or reading about food. I wanted to learn how to express this love for food with the most accurate words, with the right verbs… this is when I discovered food writing, and from that moment on, I never stopped learning. Anyway, you can read more about this passion for food writing here. https://en.julskitchen.com/other/food-writing-in-italy

Which were your models, the writers and the most important books that influenced and nourished your writing?

My first encounter with food writing was with Dianne Jacob’s manual Will write for food, which then became my food writing bible. Then I discovered Elizabeth David: her books were the first cookbooks without photos that I bought, as her prose was enough to imagine flavours, recipes, markets and shared tables under the Mediterranean sun. I’ve read and loved each and every book by Ruth Reichl, I find her writing comforting, vivid and sensuous. My favourite food writers are Molly Wizenberg, blogger at Orangette and author of A Homemade life and Delancey, and Laurie Colwin, who probably represents what I aim to in terms of food writing. When I read her Home Cooking I loved her warm, friendly, down-to-earth style, which made every recipe approachable.

Your last cookbook, La cucina dei mercati in Toscana, is about traditional and seasonal recipes, but it is also a guide to the best food markets in Tuscany: how was the idea of this book born? Who would you recommend it to?

During our cooking classes, we often shop at the local market with tourists, and this made me realize how important is the experience of the food market in our Italian lifestyle. This is a book for those who love traditional, seasonal recipes, but also for those planning a trip to Tuscany, as you could explore it from market to market. The book was published in Italian in 2017 and it will be soon available in English as well, as From the markets of Tuscany. A cookbook.

Buy “From the markets of Tuscany. A cookbook”

Compra “La cucina dei mercati in Toscana”