It was an unusually warm San Francisco winter night that Tiziana Alipo-Tamborra, agreed to meet me and share her culinary and personal travels which led to her present position as Bakery Manager at Café Gratitude. Her sincere brown eyes radiate warmth.

“My passion for desserts is big-huge!”

Tiziana explains this passion which ignited in her as a little girl in Gorizia, Italy.

“I grew up in a traditional Italian family-a lot of cooking, big production, homemade food with a lot of different techniques. It was a true gift and to make desserts was something really magical to me.”

It was in the early 90’s that Tiziana’s exploration deepened and she learned to sweeten her confections in a non traditional way.

“I learned that you could actually make desserts without butter, dairy, and sugar and that they were better for you. That’s when I began to translate. I never used a recipe, that’s not how I learned cooking. It was looking, tasting and feeling.”

In 1992, after studying both vegan and macrobiotic cooking and baking, Tiziana began to sell her desserts at the Farmer’s Market in Lucinico, Italy, a small town close to her family farm.

The Alipo-Tamborra Farm was a working farm with rabbits, pigs, chickens and cows. Together her grandparents, mother, father, three older brothers and Tiziana, milked cows, made cheese, harvested barley, wheat and corn. Her father made wine, and Tiziana took great pride in making prosciutto.

I wonder if as the baby girl she was pampered. Her response is an unequivocal, no.

“I was driving a tractor at five years old.”

She continued selling her desserts at the Farmer’s Market where friends and family urged her not to use the words vegan and macrobiotic.

“Everyone thought I was crazy, but I had to follow my heart.”

And with a sense of adventure and an open heart Tiziana yearned to expand her knowledge of macrobiotic and vegan cooking and philosophy. She could further her studies in either Italy, France or in California. At that time, she was afraid to ask her mother’s advice but Tiziana thought she could learn the most about her craft in California.

Her mother, Maria Marega simply said,

“Se devi morire, scegli il mare grande non quello piccolo.”

This translates to, “If you have to die, choose the big sea, not the small one.”

Essentially, follow your dream.

So in 1997, Tiziana embarked upon her voyage. This was the first time she left Europe and the first time on an airplane in her twenty seven years. She was California bound and began studies at a Macrobiotic Center in Oroville, California.

It was at this center that she fell in love, with Martin, A French Canadian man and a colleague. They completed their studies and Tiziana accompanied Martin to Montreal and after one year together, they returned to her town in Italy and were married. Against her father’s wishes, Tiziana and Martin left the church en route to the reception as Tiziana drove the family tractor in her wedding dress with her groom by her side.

There is some quiet introspection.

“We had a short life together”

Martin had a debilitating struggle with cancer and within three years of meeting one another, Martin passed away. Tiziana became a widow at thirty.

Four months later, Tiziana’s grief was dark and raw. She attended a Buddhist retreat in Michigan. It was there that she became re-acquainted with Henry, a friend from both she and her husband’s forays in the macrobiotic world. The next three years were challenging, but a light did shine again. Henry and Tiziana’s friendship deepened. She admits,

“Henry is the reason I am alive today.”

He loved her back to life and they married and moved to California.

Today, Tiziana is responsible, for managing and training Café Gratitude’s fifteen bakers, establishing the guidelines for the desserts and keeping their product consistent. Tiziana along with Matthew Rogers, co-authored their cookbook, Sweet Gratitude; A New World of Raw Desserts. Tiziana dedicated the book to her mother. In this collection, recipes for tiramisu, key lime pie, hazelnut mousse pie and one of Tiziana’s personal favorites, cannoli’s, are sure to tantalize.

I asked Tiziana what makes a dessert special.

“It has to look great, its presentation. The first moment you see it, you want to try it. It’s a physical reaction. And how it tastes in a balanced way, not too sweet and all the flavors come together. Texture, consistency, sweetness and balance, that’s what I look for, an immediate 100% yes.”

I wondered how Tiziana defines gratitude in her own life.

“The most incredible opportunity to learn and share- to receive and give.”

NEXT WEEK: MEET JAMAL, OWNER, YUMMA'S RESTAURANT.