About Antonia

I was brought up a vegetarian, in an Italian household. My parents founded and operated Casalinga like machines. They worked day and night and never took a holiday together for the first 8 years of business (as one always had to stay at work). This lifestyle of late nights, too much food and drink, entertaining guests 24/7 and partying after work began to take its toll on my parents health. My father had a terrible ulcer in his stomach and cerisus on his face and head and my mother was terribly overweight. They decided to change their life. My father went to school with Mark Shearer, husband of the well-known Mary-Ann Shearer in the health world. They reconnected and the Shearer’s recommended water fasts. My father did his first 17 day water only fast and healed himself completely of his ailments, my mother followed suit with a 12 day water fast and their lives turned around. We started juicing, mainly carrots, but this is where the consciousness about what we ate was at its strongest. Being Italian, we always ate seasonal food, from our garden that we grew, we had a natural love for fruits and vegetables and we knew how to cook them. This was a great help at first with our transition to a vegetarian diet. 

 

At the same time, my mother was educating herself about health. She read whatever she could get her hands on about health, raw food, vegetarianism, colon health, cancer prevention, eating for longevity, etc. 

Our organic garden on our farm produced many bountiful crops of artichokes, spinach, black figs, tomatoes and much more. My Italian grandmother Margarita De Luca taught us how to preserve this beautiful produce by pickling and bottling. She has the most inspiring pantry full of bottled peaches, pears, beetroot, artichokes, beans, plums, jams, chilies, spreads, tomato sauces and whatever else is in season that she can save. In turn, I have developed a great love for preserving food without sugar and preservatives, using old fashioned methods of a boiling hot consol jar and preserving lids that seal. 

We have also been so blessed to have wonderful crops here on the farm at Casalinga. My grandmother passed on many of her heritage seeds to my father who has made his vegetable growing into very successful operations too. 

I was born into a family truly inspired by and in love with food, the way it grows, the seed it comes from, the soil it grows in and the way it tastes in its own right. This is the depth of what inspired me for Leafy Greens too. Is that people have forgotten what true vegetables taste like. They have forgotten the flavour of a dark red tomato that has just come off the vine, hand grown and hand picked. This is where the joy is. Knowing where your food comes from and having a hand in growing at least some of it. 

Even with having Casalinga Restaurant for over 24 years, we have always mainly focused on fruits and vegetables and how we could make proper use of what we grew here on Rocky Ridge Farm. We are in love with organic produce!

I look for ward to hosting you all at Leafy Greens Cafe