Chef. Businesswoman. Model. Influencer. Not so easy to pigeonhole Isabella Potí. The product of her generation, she has obviously not landed in the world of gastronomy to follow the old rules. She skips them. She twists them. Or she simply comes up with her own rules, thereby succeeding in making herself not only an acclaimed and accomplished chef, but also turning herself into the perfect brand. But this chef, so bella (and undeniably so - it's obvious), belies some well-crafted marketing and an excellent nose for business - we are talking about gastronomy, ladies and gentlemen. As Isabella herself warns, “we shouldn't let one thing distort the other”.

Born of an Italian father and Polish mother, Isabella Potì tells us that her "love of cooking was born with me", a love which her childhood amid fragrant strawberry plantations, visits to her grandparents' henhouse in Poland, and the daily cuisine of her nonna in Lecce could only accentuate. With a clear objective - "to dominate everything the world of cookery involves as far as possible" - Isabella started out in pastrymaking, "a speciality calling for specific study that I knew would stand me in good stead to become a polyvalent chef one day". A role she now fulfils at Bros’, the Michelin-starred restaurant in Lecce she runs along with chef Floriano Pellegrino, who is also Isabella's partner. Together, Isabella and Floriano are the well-oiled machine running the Pellegrino Brothers business holding, where they roll out strategies, build and manage all the projects and brands devised by the pair (first Bros', already mentioned, the Roots trattoria, the Sista pastry outlet, the ASD Bros Rugby Club – yes, you read that right, a rugby club), and the image of the chefs themselves. 

Boasting a Michelin star since 2019, Bros’ is the flagship and the personal project of this chef couple who believe in "creative cuisine with a solid identity with roots in territory, the Salento region in our case". A gastronomic identification which, according to Isabella, they take to its ultimate consequences, "including the most unpleasant tastes or the least known in our territory", tastes that are showcased "through technique, but where this is found it is no more than a part, and not the main event". Minimalist fare, with very few ingredients and some very particular flavours (such as her riccotta, fermented until it is almost practically musty), which she plays around with in her kitchen to "bring about surprising combinations", and which have led to the odd crashing criticism of the restaurant. But Isabella Potì is unfazed by criticism: “Sincerely, I have the greatest confidence in my work and in where I'm going". A confidence she demonstrates not only in her gastronomic choices, but also in her lifestyle. 

The kaleidoscopic chef

“I look out at the world of cookery from a broader perspective, not only as a chef but as a businesswoman too, as a contemporary mother ... I look at all sides of the dice, and I'm not afraid to show people my other aptitudes outside the world of cookery”. A hefty response to the voices that have questioned her encroachments in the world of fashion and communication. Isabella is a chef, yes she is, but she has also been on several Italian TV programmes (among which, as guest judge on Master Chef), she has posed for leading magazines such as Vogue, L’Officiel, Marie Claire, SModa and Vanity Fair, and has been the image of many international names (Giorgio Armani, Carte D’Or, Nike, Land Rover, Golden Point, Piaget, Amazon and Maserati, inter alia). And, as a good millennial, her usage of social media is intense and has turned her into a genuine influencer, “a role where I feel comfortable". “Being polyvalent has been part of my success", says Isabella, while wondering rhetorically why not make use of new technologies or new employment opportunities when "everything comes from my profession, and if I weren't a professional chef no one would knock on my door".  Isabella plays down all the criticism - "there'll always be somebody to criticise other people's lessons" - and concentrates on what her polyvalence affords her: “having a team and a partner, Floriano, who has my back when I'm not around". This helps her broaden her outlook and extend her brand everywhere: crockery with her own logo, an online T-shirt brand and whatever works. “It would be stupid to stop getting the best out of selling our own brand", she concludes.

Isabella is used to fighting for what she believes in. She is a woman, she is young, and she is a chef. Three challenges in one, successfully overcome, but, beyond her experience, is she satisfied with women's presence in gastronomy? “The female presence in fine dining has to be normalised”, says Potì, although she is also optimistic, adding that "we're on the right path, judging by all the CVs of young female chefs we get at the restaurant". But Isabella is firm in her convictions concerning the role of women in cookery worldwide: “Women have always been in the kitchen, and we've run those kitchens!" According to Isabella, the fact that she runs Michelin-starred restaurants or restaurants classified among the world's best is not the barometer we should be using to gauge women's contribution to  gastronomy. “Culinary tradition, in fact, has been passed down through the generations by women". Women like the massaie, “the women who were traditionally in charge of farms and kitchens in Salento”, to whom Isabella will pay tribute at the upcoming FéminAs, the International Congress of Gastronomy, Women and the Rural Milieu in Asturias from 24 to 26 April, in order to continue to showcase the major role of women in traditional and modern cuisine. 

"We can still learn" from all those women, says Isabella, and more so in an environment such as Italy where the weight of ‘home-cooking” by the mamma or the nonna is so essential. A weight that might constitute a stumbling block for haute cuisine? we ask her. No hesitation in her response, clear but conciliatory. “Absolutely, yes, and tradition and good cuisine at home - as in Italy - is the huge obstacle that must be overcome, but there are increasing numbers of chefs who are moving into fine dining, and they do so in harmony with the environment and with tradition, and do it in the country's most remote and traditionalist locations. As in our case, here in the Salento region. We focus on new routes, but maintain our respect for tradition, which is our basis”. 

To demonstrate that this focus on territory by new generations (a phenomenon to which Spain is not indifferent) is a serious concept and that it matters, Isabella and Floriano are already thinking up new ideas in the Salento region as "a restaurant with a popular, contemporary bent in connection with the region's seaboard". Projects which are taking shape, along with dreams, the main driving force behind this new generation. “My thing is about getting closer to my maternal grandparents, and opening some kind of business in Poland”. Time will tell, but, judging by her meteoric career up to the present day, our bets are on a yes.