about - Alice Adams Carosi

I was born in Melbourne, and my first food experiences were mostly thanks to my mother, a thrifty war baby kind of cook, who read Elizabeth David, shopped at the market and made everything from scratch. A bit of a rebel before her time, she banished chips and soft drink from the school tuck shop, and, disillusioned by the loaves available in seventies suburbia, started baking bread for our lunchboxes.

I studied Fine Arts and Literature at Melbourne University, in between a year in the Architecture faculty and another in TOP Art at the then Prahran Tafe. My early jobs in hospitality included an ice cream shop and the chicken sandwiches division of a Melbourne caterer.

In the mid nineties I worked ski seasons in Falls Creek, waiting tables at Winterhaven, where Liz Cinatl and her brilliant young chefs further sparked my interest in the kitchen. After a season as a chalet cook in Val D’Isere I arrived home with a dauphinois dish and a fondue set, and in the years that followed I catered for skiers in Falls Creek over the winter, and worked in galley kitchens on the Sydney harbour over summer.

After a period in graphic design firm (working, as it happened, on food clients) I returned to the kitchen, working for several of Melbourne’s leading catering companies and later on my own as Wonderland Food. From 2001 I worked with fellow cook Sarah Wilson at Pumpkin Lane Kitchen in St Kilda. Sarah introduced me to David Malouf and Claudia Roden, and together we created food for events, venues and festivals. In 2003 our ‘Lamb and Pinenut’ pastry for Pause was listed in The Age Cheap Eats Top 10 dishes under $10.

In 2001 I was asked by photographer Robyn Lea to help out on a food editorial, and so it was that I tipped my toes into the world of food photography, where I was also lucky to assist experienced stylist Maureen McKeon. In food photography I found the place where the art of cookery met the form, color and structure of building an image. In writing the recipes to accompany the photos I discovered the satisfaction of sharing what I liked to cook.

In 2005 I arrived in Rome with a twelve month ticket and a three month tourist visa, and the rest is history.

In 2003 I came to Italy for the first time, and on my return to Australia went straight to language classes to pick up from where Signora Bruna had left off at primary school. In 2004 Sarah and I visited Rome and Sicily, on what was dubbed a business trip, and I told most of the people I met that my father was Italian (untrue). In 2005 I arrived in Rome with a twelve month ticket and a three month tourist visa, and the rest is history.

I spent my earliest years in Rome teaching English and translating, but when my children were born in 2008 and 2010 I made my first timid attempt to return to the food world. I was encouraged by some, and discouraged by others, quick to tell me that all the food styling work was in Milan. I started collecting Italian ceramics and was finally able to let loose in the old linen shelves of mercatini and second hand stores.

In Rome and beyond I have been lucky enough to work with photographers Sofie Delauw, Lorenzo Poli, Andrea di Lorenzo, Marie Sjoberg , Giorgia Nofrini, Lorenzo Pesce, Francesca Falsetti, Alberto Blasetti, Giovanna Di Lisciandro and Sabrina Rossi.

I have worked on projects as varied as creating 16th Century pies for a Gucci campaign, to cooking and styling a bowl of Spaghetti al Pomodoro overlooking the mediterranean in Positano for a cookbook cover.

When I opened latteria studio with Marie Sjoberg and stylist Emanuela Rota in 2015, the freedom of an open kitchen studio space gave me the opportunity to collaborate with cooks from around the globe like Anna Kovel and Vanessa Miles, fondly known as The Hungry Chook. It became a place where things happen, and Market to Table, a monthly appointment for curious cooks with Carla Tomasi, Rachel Roddy and myself became the highlight of the calendar. Working with Carla and Rachel upped my kitchen game immeasurably.

I researched and wrote the recipes for Robyn Lea’s Milan: Food, Fashion and Family in a Private City. I worked as the home economist with Emiko Davies‘ amazing team, which included Photographer Lauren Bamford and Food Stylist Deborah Kaloper, on her books Acquacotta and Tortellini at Midnight and many of the plates and props came from Latteria Studio. I styled and co-ordinated the studio photography for Maria Pasquale’s Heart Rome, working with the Roman chefs and cooks who contributed to the recipes, and helping style some of the trattoria shots.

In 2020, it was with huge pleasure that I worked alongside my brilliant friend Rachel Roddy, Penguin Fig Tree Editor Juliet Annan and photographer Jonathon Lovekin, in capturing the 50 bowls of pasta for Rachel’s soon to be released An A to Z of Pasta.

In 2019 I was the food producer for the Food Network production of Bobby and Giada in Italy and have since worked both on and off screen for film and advertising projects for Air BnB, Gucci, Colavita & Hello Fresh and Tuscanini.

The space where every project starts, and my favourite part of every job, is at the market. The constant turning of the seasons, the abundance of different produce and regional varieties are a constance source of inspiration in developing recipes for food weekly Ci Piace Cucinare. For more about the markets I shop at, and which vendors are best for what, you can read more here.

I started writing recipes and travel notes on my blog Rustica Retro (now here), in 2013 and it became a valuable learning space in which to write, record recipes and slowly develop my photography skills. I have published food and travel articles for Thomas Cook Travel, De Smaak Van Italie, Olive Magazine and Great Ocean Quarterly. When I was named as one of the 50 Women in Food in 2020 by Corriere della Sera, I was proud to be called one of the ambassadors to Italy.

Neighborhood Oranges is (was) the project closest to my heart at latteria studio, where bitter oranges from the streets, parks and urban orchards of Rome were transformed into orange marmalade as part of a social enterprise for unemployed young women. Latteria 2 will have a registered kitchen and so this project can continue.

Finally (for the crazy souls that have read this far) I want to say this. Travel, freelancing, and moving around is a privilege and not an option for many women. I acknowledge this, and am committed to trying to create positive outcomes on a social and environmental level in my kitchen and through my business.

When I am not in Rome you can find me gardening in the small town of Lubriano in northern Lazio.

photos: Vanessa Miles, Olivia Cavalli Williamson and Emma Law