Donatella Inchingolo
Pastry Chef
Donatella Inchingolo is the Pastry Chef at St Edmund Hall.
Donatella’s passion as pastry chef comes from a life-long interest in history, culture, and relationships. It has been said that food and eating may well be only second to language as a form of social bonding.
Honey, dried fruits, and flour were rare and used to bake offerings for the gods, and desserts always had a key role in feasts and celebrations. This festive behaviour carries elaborate social meaning that stimulated her interest and she found it deeply linked to spiritual experiences both for the producer and the consumer. The memories of Donatella’s festive family meals in Italy are haunted by shiny gold paper trays filled with colourful pastries.
She remembers vividly the excitement and anticipation of them lying in the kitchen, waiting to be brought to the table, knowing that one day she would be an adult and didn’t have to finish my vegetables before unwrapping those treasures .
Fuelled by these memories, Donatella’s intense curiosity in learning how to make these little works of love, never rests. And as far as jobs go, spending her days amongst spices, cream, fruit, and chocolate, she thinks is a pretty good one. Helping to mark moments of happiness in other people’s lives is indeed a joyful experience that never grows weary.
