Nadia Sammut

“If I had to describe Kom&Sal in one sentence, I’d say it’s a virtuous and delicious experience. I created Kom&sal because I wanted to find an answer to a problem I have I’m a coeliac and I’ve been gluten intolerant since birth. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, barley, oats, ancient wheats, spelt and kamut. And I couldn’t use these flours at all.

Today, Kom&Sal is a real regional project, and the idea is to work with the farmers I have around me who are going to cultivate, who are going to bring me this grain and which I am going to process.

I always say that I’m not here just to buy from my small producer. In fact, we’re all part of the food chain. So, the farmer who is going to work with me will offer me a crop plan. And from there I’m going to think about the taste that I can produce and that I can produce in large quantities because my aim is to distribute it. For example, I’m going to work on chickpea tohu, which is in fact a tofu like soya, but made from chickpeas. Behind that, I’ve gone looking for flavours like pastry cream, lemon curd, ice cream…

My idea, in fact, is to try, not to substitute or look for what I can do without wheat, but to find an incredible environment for the ingredient. As a nurturing chef I would even say an explorer because I had to explore, as they say, I didn’t know at all the path I was going to take.

My job today is to pass on the knowledge from the farm to the plate, via all my kitchen and processing staff in my laboratories. My idea is to pass on to them a taste for food awareness and, of course, the associated techniques, which are completely additive-free, addictive and pesticide-free, but with love!