September 1st 2024 – Updates → Read More

For my daughter

Our Mission ミッション

Viva il Biologico!

Ciao! It has been more than 20 years since I first came to Japan. I was working as a chef at the organic restaurant in Italy and I was tremendously happy that I obtained the chance to come to Japan because I had much interest in Japan from my childhood. But, I still remember that when I arrived here, I expected my stay in Japan was going to be only 1year. In Japan, making use of my experience in Italy, I engaged in the development of private brand of pasta, trained Japanese kitchen staffs, and worked as a chef in various restaurants.

While time flied so fast, I decided to have a family here and settled down in Japan. I found myself thinking of Japan as home. In 2005, my long-awaited first daughter was born, and this often reminded me of my childhood in Italy. I spent a lot of time with my grand mother who used to live near the lake in northern Italy. As long as I remember, full of organic vegetables that my grand parents had grown were around me in every day life, and we used to cook together with these organic ingredients. This precious experience made me decide to be a chef when I was only 11 years old.

But I realized in daily life in Japan that it was very difficult to find organic ingredients which had been so familiar to me. Japanese vegetables looked perfect shaped, clean without mud, but I couldn’t feel reality from them. After the birth of my daughter, I looked around for organic vegetables and seasonings. What a hard work it was! Since then, I strongly felt that I would like to share my precious experience of organic eating with Japanese kids, and it was the start of Lucadeli Organic Kitchen. After this decision, I toured all over Japan for more than 6 months to find the reliable organic producers. Even if the products are all organic, it doesn’t mean anything if they are not tasty. We need a variety of the ingredients to compose the menu all year long, for this reason I visited from Hokkaido to the southern island of Okinawa, Miyakojima. I was very obsessed to make it fully organic and that is why I looked for the best organic products for every seasoning, beef, pork, chicken, flour, egg, and etc. I remember this challenging tour as a really great memory.

In 2007, I have finally opened fully organic restaurant in Hiroo, Lucadeli Organic Restaurant . The concept for this restaurant was authentic organic Italian restaurant, being very elegant but feels very at home for the children also. Even started as an organic restaurant, my dream was to offer the catering for kids. The eating habit in childhood remains as your basic eating habit for all your life, and that is why food education is very important. For this reason, I have fed my daughter with organic foods and international menus as much as I could, While I wanted to share this experience with other kids, one international school has contacted me for the lunch catering. That was the moment that my dream has come true or may be has begun. Through this activity, I desire that many kids in the world can learn the organic eating and that I could be the part of the help for the kids to be healthy, mentally and physically. And eventually I hope that kids get interested in ‘Eco Life’ and feel themselves as the part of the mother earth.

In 2010, my long-awaited son has born and realized the difficulty of going out to eat at the restaurant with wild boy. Then, I hoped to have a place where the mothers and kids were able to enjoy frankly and it was the start of opening of Organic Tapas & Wine at Shirogane. By opening this place, coincidentally I felt very happy that I could offer more organic bentos for more kids at bigger school.

I believe that there is no need to take ORGANIC as a stoic way, otherwise you will feel pressured in a way. I just hope that Lucadeli could be the cue to encounter the chemical-free ingredients in your daily life. Lucadeli’s future is with the kids and the mothers who are raising them. I strongly desire that Lucadeli Organic Kitchen would be the place where we can offer delicious, healthy and beautiful meal and also where you can pull out your happiness together with us.

VIVA IL BIOLOGICO!
Luca Massimo Fraternali

For my daughter
Father and Daughter