A chance encounter took me from a New York skyscraper to a London food market – and a new life | Franco Fubini

13 hours ago 3

As I wandered out of my New York apartment, the snow compressing on to the sidewalk in that warming dusk light gave my walk to Citarella’s on Third Avenue a rhythmic glow. It was 1999 and Christmas was a few weeks away. In the northern hemisphere, December is the season for vibrant citrus, bitter leaves and pumpkins, yet behind me someone called out: “Where can I find peaches?” I turned around to see an affronted woman standing outside the greengrocer’s. The absurdity of the moment struck me – why would someone crave peaches in the middle of winter? It is just as absurd as sitting by the pool on a blistering summer day and reaching for a warm, woolly jumper.

I was already aware of the issues facing the food system; industrialised farming destroying our soils, the stomach of our planet, opaque supply chains leaving citizens powerless in making the right buying decisions, and the dominance of ultra-processed foods with zero nutritional value in supermarkets, schools and hospitals, to name a few. But this moment underscored our grave disconnect with nature and its seasons. We had normalised the idea that food can and should be eaten any time of the year. I couldn’t escape from this realisation, but little did I know that seemingly innocuous encounter in New York was to change my life for ever.

After graduating from university, I was lured to the skyscrapers and energy of the Big Apple. I found myself working on the 45th floor of a Merrill Lynch office, managing portfolios for wealthy Latin American families. The view was breathtaking, and living by the daily movements and emotions of the stock market was exciting and fast-paced, yet my work was mired by an undercurrent of greed that I struggled to reconcile.

My escape was cooking, it always has been. When I came home from school in Buenos Aires; for my friends at university; and later while living in NYC, roaming its streets in search of unique ingredients, cooking was always my focus: the one thing I never tired of. In hindsight it should have taken me less time to recognise food was what my life should have been built around, that blurring of lines where life and work become one. My unhappiness with work was nothing new, it came and went throughout my life, but it was getting worse each year.

Nearing my 30s came a turning point and I told myself that if I did not act now, if I didn’t change careers, soon I’d be 40 and it would be too late. An urgency kicked in and food became my north star. It was a deeply personal need. All around me a world opened up where I began to see opportunities that were up to that point invisible. A van driving past, a brand at the supermarket, or a startup food delivery service all sparked inspiration for my conviction to work with food.

That was the catapult that shot me from a NYC skyscraper to the cold concrete pavement of London’s New Covent Garden Market at 2 o’clock in the morning, surrounded by towers of fruits and vegetables in the wholesale produce market that feeds the city. I made this leap in 2003, into the underbelly of the supply chain, working for Solstice, a fruit and vegetable supplier to top-end restaurants. It was a time when London restaurants wrote their menus based more on the origin of a recipe rather than seasons, before the real farm-to-table movement had started, and that was something I was passionate about changing.

Franco Fubini beside a van filled with crates

Through my work visiting markets and farmers around Europe, I saw first-hand why seasonality is critical in our ability to regain control of, and fix, our food system. All around me I could see how quickly flavour was disappearing from our plates. There was almost no access to high-quality produce that tasted amazing in large metropolises, and I resolved to do something about it. I wanted to reintroduce phenomenal flavour into people’s lives, and to re-educate and reconnect consumers with nature. In 2004, I took a company originally founded in France called Natoora, with a nascent base in London, and embarked on making this a reality.

My dedication to flavour over the past two decades has in part been a selfish pursuit for pleasure, but it has over time given my work a deep sense of purpose. Flavour is the conduit to change, thanks to its ability to connect us to foods emotionally and impart powerful memories that stay with us for ever. Flavour can reintroduce joy into our relationship with food.

I can’t say at the time I fully appreciated how impactful changing careers would be. What was ignited by passion and desire opened a new world for me. A world filled with a higher purpose, a love for my work that I hope inspires others to do the same. To fight for a better world with joy at the heart of our food.