When Mario Batali won the 2005 Chef of the Year award from the James Beard Foundation - probably the most celebrated American culinary award - it was the culmination of decades spent enjoying, preparing, studying, sharing and ultimately reinventing Italian cuisine.

At the root of Mario’s success is his passion and respect for all of the great tastes and traditions of Italian cooking combined with an insatiable desire to experience and experiment. This magical combination of passion, education and chutzpah is on display every night at his extremely popular restaurants and is shared in his cookbooks and television appearances.