Welcome to Gusti Pugliesi

My name is Mariateresa — though I’ve never been a fan of it. Too long, too formal… too much! So I started asking everyone to call me Teresa. Shorter, friendlier, and much more me.

I grew up in Puglia, where food was always part of daily life. But for a long time, I never thought cooking was my “passion.” In fact, nobody in my family did! Looking back, though, the signs were obvious: when I was at university, my tiny shared flat became the Friday and Saturday night hotspot. While my friends were laughing, drinking, and having a good time, I was in the kitchen cooking. My specialty was focaccia — a recipe my mum taught me, just by letting me watch and learn — and my friends still remember it as “Tina’s focaccia.” (And yes — it’s on my menu today!) All my recipes now come from my mum’s kitchen, carrying her traditions with me wherever I cook.

Life took me far from home: I worked in tourism, energy services, fashion, and customer operations, building plenty of professional experience along the way. I spent three years in New York, helping to run a travel agency with my boss and even working as a freelance journalist. Later, I moved to the UK, where I’ve now lived for seven years. With my degree in foreign languages, I can speak four of them (some fluently, some less so) — and I think that reflects who I am at heart: a traveller, always curious, always learning. Alongside all this, I also spent 20 years in hospitality, working front of house to pay for my studies (and for 15 years of dance, since I was a dancer too!). Honestly, my life could be taken straight from a true story… which is why I wrote one: 7 Times Me, now on Amazon.

Everywhere I lived, I was welcomed warmly, and those experiences taught me openness, tolerance, and respect for all cultures. In a world where debates about immigration and identity can feel so divisive, I’ve learned that food — like human connection — is universal. It brings people together, no matter where they come from.

Gusti Pugliesi started thanks to people who believed in me — like Ben at the Dew Drop, who gave me the chance to try my food in his pub’s kitchen. From there, the idea grew into a real project. And with the continuous support of my partner, it became a dream I could actually pursue.

Today, Gusti Pugliesi is active in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, bringing authentic Italian food. For me, it’s more than a business: it’s the story of resilience, of starting over (more than once!), and of always coming back to the flavours of home.

And if you ever catch me in the kitchen, don’t be surprised if I’m still sneaking a raw orecchietta or two — just like I did in my nonna’s kitchen in Molfetta. Some traditions never change.