Cristina Bowerman, an Italian chef (1 Michelin star, 2 forks from Gambero Rosso), was born in Cerignola, a small town in Puglia. After obtaining a law degree, she moved to San Francisco to pursue legal studies and worked on weekends at the coffee house Higher Grounds. Always passionate about cooking, her culinary interest flourished years later while residing in Austin. She earned a degree in Culinary Arts, honing her skills and focusing on flavor concentration.
In 2005, she moved to Rome and, after an initial experience at Convivio Troiani, joined Glass Hostaria, a restaurant that had opened just a year ago in Trastevere. Glass is a contemporary and innovative space, both in philosophy and gastronomic offerings, challenging the traditional Trastevere scene, just like her cuisine. Her cooking is a cultural crossroads that tells the story of taste through a constant dialogue between traditions, cultures, memory, and places.
Since 2010, she has held a Michelin star and became a case study at Bocconi University in the same year. “From Cerignola to San Francisco and Back – My Life as a Contrarian Chef” (Mondadori, 2014) is one of the two published books that highlight the personality of a “contrarian chef.”
Her commitment extends to various fronts, starting with education and teaching. One of her cherished projects is “Adopt a Hospitality Institute” within #fareformazione, the Protocol of Understanding aimed at improving and expanding the educational offerings in Hospitality Institutes, signed with Re.Na.I.A. – National Network of Hospitality Institutes, on behalf of the Italian Association of Ambassadors of Taste, of which Cristina is one of the founding members and President since 2016.
Her role as a Taste Ambassador began in 2015 when she was appointed Chef Ambassador of Expo Milano 2015, where she had the opportunity, along with Paolo Marchi and Cesare Battisti, to envision an association like Adg.
In 2018, she was part of the Technical Coordination Committee for the Year of Italian Food, and more recently, she joined Chef Manifesto, an initiative launched by Paul Newnham, with the goal of ending hunger, achieving food security, and promoting sustainable agriculture by 2030.
Especially due to her commitment to food sustainability, the Michelin Guide recently included Cristina Bowerman in its global Green Initiative selection. Cristina has always sought to be a role model for women in the restaurant industry—an environment heavily skewed toward male representation—and beyond. This value was also recognized during TEDxMilano Women, TEDxaubg, public talks to share and celebrate “ideas worth living.” In February 2018, she was appointed Ambassador by the Telefono Rosa Association.
Among her most heartfelt commitments, she had the pleasure of being the protagonist of the largest ACTION AID campaign in 2015 and is among the ten founders of the organization Fiorano For Kids, for research on the therapeutic role of specific diets in the treatment of childhood epilepsy.
In January 2021, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, she participated in the debate “Food, Sustainable, and Irresistible” for the newspaper La Stampa.
Her creativity in the kitchen and her commitments in various fields have led Cristina to travel the world for workshops and talks. Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards, including “Chef Woman of the Year” at Identità Golose 2013, “Best Female Italian Chef in Europe 2018” by Love Italian Life, Galvanina Award for Best Chef 2018 (during the XVIII edition of the Festival della Cucina Italiana), FIC Award for excellence, and many more.
