Love affair with food turns into business

By ANDREA WESTERHAUS
awesterhaus@norfolkdailynews.com

Barrie Saccomanno spent a year of high school in Switzerland after losing a $5 bet with her best friend.It’s just one of many adventures in Saccomanno’s life that includes, well, you name it — world travel, preparing food for and partying with rock stars, watching New York City’s Twin Towers collapse on 9/11 from only blocks away and . . . winding up in Norfolk with a unusual business venture.

Saccomanno grew up in Texas with her father, I.J., who would often jokingly threaten to send her to a Swiss nunnery if she misbehaved. When the president of a Swiss school visited Saccomanno’s school during her freshman year in high school, her best friend bet her $5 that her father would send her away.

But as it turns out, the school president had been in communication with Saccomanno’s father, who thought it would be good for her to spend a year abroad — not because she was misbehaving but because of the experience she would gain.
“I went home that night and my dad said, ‘Goodbye,’ ” Saccomanno said. “I only went for a year because it was so expensive. It was an American school in the Italian part (of Switzerland) and I knew some Italian from growing up, but not a lot.”

Being immersed in a new culture forces a person to adapt quickly, Saccomanno said. That experience proved helpful and necessary later in life when she was living in New York and holding several different jobs to support herself.The one job that Saccomanno kept returning to was cooking. She began her love affair with food as a result of the major role it played early in her life.

“My father was a gourmet chef,” Saccomanno said. “We always did dinner parties from anywhere for 30 to 100 people and (my dad) was always entertaining. He was an amazing chef and my mom was a great cook. Food was always a big part of our family.”
In 2000, Saccomanno started working with a not-for-profit theater in New York City, providing performance-based dinner parties. She worked as the theater’s creative director and found success providing banquet-style dinners based on the themes of the performances.

“I was actually doing really well,” Saccomanno said. “Fox News did a special on me. I’d just moved the show, in August 2001, down to a cafe about two blocks from Ground Zero. Ticket prices were up to about $70 a head and I was getting really well-known. Then 9/11 happened and I couldn’t really do the show after that.”Saccomanno didn’t let the loss of her business slow her down. She continued to do what she loved — cook — but for a different group of people.“Right after the towers fell, I went downtown and volunteered at Ground Zero at the Red Cross canteen and cooked for three months,” she said. “After that, it kind of became more of a passion and a skill. It just became so important to feed these people.”

In the spring of 2002, Saccomanno decided to go back to school so she could make cooking her full-time career.
“I went to the Institute for Culinary Education in NYC, and got a double degree in culinary arts and culinary management. I graduated with honors,” she said.
During her formal training, Saccomanno got a job as a “rock ’n’ roll chef” when she went to work for a caterer who was cooking for performers at the New York Summer Series at Jones Beach in Madison Square Garden, where she worked with some of rock’s biggest names.

“The job was cooking for all the bands and all the stuff for the VIP dressing rooms, the technical crews — anywhere from one to 400 people,” Saccomanno said. “It was great. The Rolling Stones were great; I was actually in charge of their inner-inner circle dining room, which is like their 100 closest friends.”Saccomanno also worked with Cher, Elton John, members of White Snake and Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen.

After completing her schooling, Saccomanno started a “personal chef” business in New York. It entailed buying groceries and cooking up to a week’s worth of meals in a person’s home.She also cooked for dinner parties, bridal showers and special occasion breakfasts in bed for new moms. Saccomanno also taught people how to cook, such as single men and birthday party groups of children.

Saccomanno recently moved to Norfolk to help care for her mother, a Pilger native. Though the differences between New York and Norfolk are vast, Saccomanno is adjusting.“There was kind of a culture shock,” she said. “So I took some time off and got used to it. Now that it’s warm, I’m ready to go.”She believes Norfolk will provide her with plenty of clients for her personal chef business, given that she specializes in Italian cooking and southern dishes.

“Real-people food — I do that well,” Saccomanno said. “I believe in cooking. I like to do a lot with market-fresh foods and I love vegetables.”Saccomanno said an excellent use of her services would be with the elderly, who would benefit from having a week’s worth of meals already assembled on hand, new mothers, special anniversary dinners or anyone who needs a night off.

“This service gives families quality time with quality foods,” Saccomanno said. “So many families fend for themselves and don’t have that ‘dinner table’ bonding. Eating healthy shouldn’t be a chore.”