Bettina Campolucci Bordi on the importance of community, food accessibility and retreat cooking

In this episode of Good Food, host Samuel Goldsmith sits down with Bettina Campolucci Bordi. Chef, author, and founder of Bettina's Kitchen Academy, to explore the evolving world of wellness, retreat cooking, and plant-based cuisine.
Bettina shares her remarkable journey from food and beverage manager to self-taught retreat chef, starting with plant-based, gluten-free retreats in southern Spain over a decade ago. She reveals the unique challenges of retreat cooking, from working with unfamiliar kitchens and local teams to creating nutritionally dense menus that satisfy diverse dietary needs.
Key Topics:
• The surprising truth about longevity: why community matters more than diet
• How to add variety to your plate without overcomplicating things
• The "less is more" philosophy in an age of wellness trends and biohacking
• Simple swaps for incorporating more plants and pulses into your diet
• Why retreat chef training is different from traditional culinary education
• Growing up between East Africa and Scandinavia and its influence on her cooking
Bettina also discusses her cookbooks, including Celebrate, which focuses on creating inclusive dishes that work for guests with different dietary requirements. Plus, she shares her recipe for Swedish meatballs made with black beans, her technique for making aged cashew cheese, and why she believes cooking for yourself is an act of self-care.
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