​Nicoletta Tavella

I was born and raised in Italy where I started working as a radio speaker at age 15 with a musical monography of the Beatles in 2 episodes for Radio Radicale in Bari, Puglia. I also worked for Bari Canale 100, L'Altra Radio and several other local radio stations. At the age of 19 I enrolled in an acting course which helped me improve my broadcasting, voice-over and acting qualities.
After moving to Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in 1986 I worked as an interpreter/translator for 15 years and I started my professional voice-over career. Nowadays I work with all of The Netherlands' major voice-over agencies. I've been the Italian Anne Frank's voice at the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam and I've recorded hundreds of voice-overs for Cisco Systems, Philips, Kawasaki, KLM, A. Vogel, Invisalign, Fondazione Capellino and many other clients. 

In 2000 I started teaching Italian cooking as a hobby. 
Establishing my own Italian cooking school named La Cucina del Sole in 2002 was the next step: one of my passions – teaching the secrets of the real Italian cuisine – became a full-time job done with enthusiasm, dedication and a pinch of pioneering.

The foundation of my cooking career is the vast culinary tradition of my own family handed down from generation to generation and enriched by the study of cooking techniques and original recipes belonging to the Italian classic, regional and historical culinary heritage like the cuisines of the Ancient Rome and the Italian Renaissance.
I have refined my technical background with several master classes at the renowned “Gambero Rosso” cooking school in Rome, countless experiments with old and new recipes in my own Amsterdam-based cooking school (La Cucina del Sole) and different courses on several types of international cuisines. Since 2009 I'm also a certified sommelier with AIS (the Italian Sommelier Association).
Thanks to my great interest in other cultures and culinary habits I'm also specialized in World cuisine. In 2011 I presented 40 episodes of "La cucina degli altri", a TV show dedicated to the international cuisine on Gambero Rosso Channel, Italy's first food channel (Sky ch. 411, see the "Video & TV Reel" page for a few episodes).

I have written about Italian food and wines for cooking magazines such as “La Cucina Italiana” (Dutch edition), "Miss Perfect" and “Keuken Studio” and still write for several culinary weblogs among which my own (English and Dutch version).

In 2006 I published my first cookbook named "Antipasti" (ISBN 9059205154) with Veltman Uitgevers and in 2012 I wrote my second cookbook "Cucina di casa mia - recepten van een Italiaanse familie", a collection of family recipes published by Choizes in The Netherlands (ISBN10 9081892606) that won the 3rd prize as "Best Italian Cookbook in the World" at the Gourmand Cookbook Awards in Paris in 2013. In 2015 it was time to publish a new book together with Dutch nutritionist Rolien Scheepbouwer. It became my third lifestyle and cookbook named "Gewoon Gezond".

I also work as a culinary expert and advisor for several TV programs on Dutch television (Kassa!, De Smaakpolitie, Herrie gezocht, Wat de boer niet kent) and as a culinary consultant and recipe developer for the creation of original Italian recipes (among others for the Dutch Fish Marketing Board - Visbureau and their website www.principessaplatessa.it and Grand'Italia), food packaging, restaurant menus and culinary-oriented advertising material.
I've been Resident Chef at Bellavita Amsterdam and Bellavita London in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

I'm also a professional Tarot reader (please visit my site by clicking on this link), a passion that started when I was about 15 years old.