Eat & Drink
SWEET legacy By Andrea Louise Thomas Photos Yanni & supplied
P
astry chef Jessinta Fantauzzo is the peninsula’s Pied Piper of Sicilian cannoli and other traditional Italian desserts. People come from all over to eat her delicious fresh-made pastries. Jess is a stickler for perfection, just as her Nonno (grandfather), Lino, taught her. “Everything I do is from scratch following the recipes of my grandfather and great-grandfather,” she says.
“In my family, we did a lot of cooking. I started prepping in the kitchen when I was seven. I spent weekends at Nonno’s house cooking and baking. We made everything. When I was little, I was always creating art or cooking. Making food is a form of art,” she says. Jess distinctly remembers telling her Nonno that when she grew up she was going to open a cake shop in his name. At just 24 years old, she did.
In my family, we did a lot of cooking. I started prepping in the kitchen when I was seven Jess nearly got knocked off course in Year 10 by a negative cooking teacher. She thought that she had better go into beauty therapy like the other girls around her, but then she remembered the promise she’d made to Nonno. Jess left high school at the end of Year 11 to study at William Angliss Institute in Melbourne where, after eighteen months of hard work, she achieved a Certificate IV in Patisserie. “After that, everything I learned, I learned from Nonno. I’m a visual learner. I watched Nonno and worked on his recipes for three months before I opened my first business, Mio Nonno, in Airport West. I worked seven days a week for three years until everything was just right. I had to get the nod from Nonno before anything went on the shelf, ” she says. continued page 58...
56 | PENINSULA essence August 2026