Cooking And Coping: Making Parmigiana Di Melanzane With Livio Cucuzza In Veneto, Italy

Cooking And Coping is a series created by @HungryEditor profiling people on what they are cooking and how they are coping during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Livio Cucuzza is the Chief Design Officer at McIntosh Group Inc., a global luxury audio company which is home to notable names such as McIntosh Labs, Sonus faber, and Sumiko Audio, amongst others. Prior to joining Sonus faber in 2010 as a Senior Designer, he worked for brands including Due and LEGO. Cucuzza was the creative architect behind several category innovations for the organization, including their journey into the automotive sector through their collaborations with Maserati and Stellantis. Cucuzza studied Industrial Design at Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan. He is based in the Veneto region of Italy. You can follow him on Instagram: @livio_cucuzza.

Benjamin Liong Setiawan: What recipe are you loving right now?

Livio Cucuzza: My favorite recipe is without a doubt, my mother’s version of the classic Italian “Parmigiana di Melanzane.”

Parmigiana di Melanzane (Eggplant Parmigiana)

Recipe: 

1. The first important step is crucial – cut the eggplant into slices and put them under a thick layer of coarse salt for a couple of hours. In this way, the eggplant will lose the typical bitter taste and will be delicious!
2. Prepare a simple tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes, onions, olive oil, and basil. Cut the onion into small pieces, fry slightly in a thin layer of olive oil, and add tomato sauce once the onion has turned light yellow. Add salt and a small spoon of sugar (to adjust the acidity, if needed) and that’s it! Add basil after removing from the heat.
3. Next, deep fry the eggplant slices in olive oil and place them in a baking dish. Set the first layer of eggplant and then add tomato sauce and boiled eggs in little pieces. Repeat this process for as much layers as you can to fill the dish. On top of the last layer, add abundant parmesan cheese and place the baking dish in the fridge. 
4. Serve cold, as my mother and grandma do!

Setiawan: How did you come across this recipe?

Cucuzza: It is the main course of family lunches and dinners during the summer in Sicily, where my parents live. I don’t know how old the recipe of this version is, but I’m sure it is not in its first generation. My mother does it in the same way as my grandmother.

Setiawan: What do you love about this recipe?

Cucuzza: I love it because it has all my favorite ingredients. It’s simple and, in my mother’s version, it is served cold – perfectly fitting the hot Sicilian summer! Normally, in the original recipe, it’s a warm plate.

Setiawan: Any special memories connected to this recipe?

Cucuzza: My best memories connected to my mom’s Parmigiana are those early mornings when I came home very hungry after a night with friends. To find leftovers of Parmigiana in the fridge was a true joy!

Setiawan: Who do you most want to make this recipe for?

Cucuzza: I have only made it myself one time, for my girlfriend. I don’t really know if I want to share it with anyone else! ???? 

Setiawan: Mental health is so important. What are some concerns that occupy your mind?

Cucuzza: My mind is normally messy. I am an introverted person, and I don’t have brothers and sisters, so most of my childhood was solitary. I discovered the power of imagination early, I played with this power most of the time, but sometimes this isn’t always a good thing. I have learned to assign the right weight to the bad and the good things in life and aim to focus my attention and care to the positive thoughts.

Setiawan: What are some ways you’re coping with all the stresses of those concerns?

Cucuzza: I have learned to relate my concerns to truly important things. This way you can give to them the right weight, and it is often much less than you may perceive. 

Setiawan: What are you doing to stay sane?

Cucuzza: I’m not so much into sports but I like to go to the gym three times per week, just to maintain my physical and mental health. 

Setiawan: What are you doing to stay creative?

Cucuzza: Talking with my team is the best way to stimulate creativity. Listening to different point of views is always the best way to generate new ideas and can be very exciting. 

Setiawan: What are you doing to stay connected?

Cucuzza: Not so much honestly. I’m into social media, I’m compulsive on Instagram, but at the same time I’m not the best in maintaining more meaningful connections with people. This is my biggest fault.

Setiawan: What have you been learning recently?

Cucuzza: I’m learning how to better manage people and create efficient processes. Jeff Poggi, the CEO of my company, is an amazing mentor. 

Setiawan: What changes do you hope to see in the future?

Cucuzza: Currently, I have a goal to incorporate a better way to maintain my connections.

Setiawan: What rhythms are you trying to implement in your life? 

Cucuzza: Even though I work with sound and acoustics, I’m not about rhythm and rituals. I can’t do the same thing for more than a week, maybe a day. I like to change it up to inspire creativity, and it’s more fun! 

Setiawan: What has been the most surprising?

Cucuzza: In terms of professional projects, the most surprising was the success of the Lumina Collection. From such a simple idea, different from our classic products but still true to the DNA of Sonus faber, the new line was a great market success. 

Setiawan: What has been the most inspiring?

Cucuzza: The most inspiring project was probably when I worked on developing the PRYMA headphones, back in 2016. It was an amazing journey with new suppliers, new technologies and a different customer base. I will never forget that project.

Setiawan: What do you see is the best way for change to happen?

Cucuzza: Don’t try to force it, it’s always better to create all the conditions to make the change easier.

Setiawan: What gives you hope for the future?

Cucuzza: I honestly don’t spend too much time thinking about past and future. Every day is a discovery. Everything can happen. It is different for product design, where I use all my imagination to create possible future scenarios – it is natural process I don’t force in any way.

Setiawan: Who do you think should be featured on Cooking and Coping next?

Cucuzza: The amazing Dodo Arslan, one of the most talented industrial designers I know. Saturnino Celani is an artist who I respect for his humble approach, even as one of the most famous Italian musicians. Laurence Dickie, a constant fountain of inspiration for my job.