Chef Maria Capdevielle

Chef Capdevielle is the author of "My Sweet Abruzzo", a professional pastry chef and a baking & pastry instructor from Abruzzo (Italy).  She started cooking when she was a child, helping her mother with her catering business (in Caracas, Venezuela) on a part-time basis.  She made crostatas, breads, focaccias, rustic pastries and homemade pasta.  At the same time, she also graduated as a Computer Engineer and worked for Oracle, Ernst & Young and Sun Microsystems for a total of 7 years.  At Sun, and with her husband, she got to know the Bay Area. She moved to the United States in mid 2000 and she decided to formalize her culinary passion, becoming a Pastry Chef at the California Culinary Academy.

Most of her culinary knowledge and experience comes from her family’s Italian business.  She also has local experience and training in many bakeries and restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, including The Rose Pistola in North Beach, The Waterfront in Embarcadero, Market Hall in Oakland, The Townhouse Grill & Restaurant in Emeryville, and a stint at the famed Chez Panisse in Berkeley, where she learned about hand-selecting and gently preparing perfect produce from Alice Waters.  She is consulting for small businesses and she is also teaching Italian baking and pastries privately and at different culinary centers.

Her website is: mariateresaskitchen.com