Marco Cervetti

He may have been born in Italy, but for Marco Cervetti, Ukraine is now very much his home and his heart.

Marco is brand chef for Fozzy Group, which owns and manages retail stores across the country and is its largest supermarket and food retailer.

The chef is a man of many talents – a cook, a wine expert and someone with endless product knowledge. He’s an all rounder whose expertise stretches across many different areas, which gives him

an unprecedented understanding of the world in which he works.

Growing up in Piedmont, the young Marco found a passion for all things culinary, working in various kitchens where he could observe how they operated and how food was prepared.

There’s no doubting his dedication – at one point he was cleaning around 150 kilo of seafood a day while working in a fish restaurant.

He started at the bottom and worked his way up, providing lunches and dinners for various gatherings where he was able to show off his skills.

Marco was like a sponge absorbing knowledge everywhere he went – from the chefs in the various restaurants where he cut his teeth to the traditions and skills that he picked up at his family home.

The brand chef emphasises the importance of continuing to learn and experiencing new things, wanting people to learn by experience.

The ingredients he can’t do without? Rice, garlic and wine – no doubt harking back to his childhood home where “they were everywhere.”

Seven years into his residence in Kyiv, Marco has begun to understand Ukrainian cuisine.

According to him, it won’t advance unless cooks abandon cooking Soviet cuisine in favour of travelling further back in time to “regain what was partially lost in Soviet times.”