We were lucky to catch up with Caterina De Falco recently and have shared our conversation below.

Caterina , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’m currently writing my first book, which is set to be published this spring. For over 30 years, I’ve been passionate about doing something related to food and France. My goal has always been to bring the French style of eating and better quality food to the U.S. to improve the American food culture. I’ve tried importing food, creating a food line for grocery stores, and various other small projects, but none of them were successful in the way I imagined. However, I later realized that I needed all these experiences, along with raising a family and living in the U.S., to create the impact I dreamed of.

One day, I had the idea to write a book, and now, several years later, it’s finally ready for publishing. The main theme of the book is to bring attention to the problems surrounding food and family dinner time in the U.S. I aim to highlight the importance of family dinner, explain why the European style of dining supports good physical and emotional health, and ultimately convey that how you eat affects every aspect of life – your health, wealth, and relationships.

The second part of the book is focused on providing individuals and families with the tools they need to effect positive change in how they eat. I discuss how to establish a positive table culture and eating habits, how to shop for high-quality, healthy food, how to cook simple gourmet style, family-friendly meals, and how to easily maintain a lifestyle around food to improve their overall quality of life.

Caterina , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For over 30 years, I have been fascinated by the food culture in the U.S. and saddened by problems around eating habits. My awareness of these cultural problems intensified over the past 20 years while raising my three children. I realized how many families were struggling with mealtimes, making dinners, and dealing with fussy eaters.

Coming from a traditional Italian home, having lived in France and married a Frenchman, my food culture has been quite different from the typical American culture. I noticed many differences in the American culture, which led me to be curious about their struggles, as we have a much lower occurance of problems in France and Italy than in the U.S.

Over the years, my American friends noticed how I ate and fed my children, and they were curious about my eating habits and secrets to feed my kids. I shared recipes, routines, and time tips for cooking and shopping to help them. Many said that the results were “a game-changer.” I knew I wanted to help more people, but I needed to figure out how.

Initially, I thought that if I contributed to solving the food problem, the rest would fall into place. I began by trying to create a line of French food for sale. Although this wasn’t successful; it led me to understand what goes into making food shelf-stable under the FDA requirements. This was eye-opening as I began to understand the unfortunate poor and mediocre quality of most packaged foods. These problems contribute not only to health risks but also contribute to the problems of fussy eaters and the lack of a solid routine of family mealtimes.

Now, more than ever, determined to help improve the quality of food for sale in the U.S., I started importing food to sell and included tips on cooking and recipes. But my message didn’t pass in the way I wanted it to. I realized that the food was welcome, but the lifestyle around it needed to be addressed on a deeper level. I came to understand that food was only part of the recipe. First, I needed to focus on and teach the foundation, which is how to eat and create a lifestyle around food, and then focus on the quality of the food.

One day, I had a vision to write a book. After sharing this with families I teach, it became clear that this method of teaching was generating results. I am pleased to announce that my book will be published for the public in the spring of 2024.

The experiences that led up to writing this first book amde me understand that all the trials and tribulations that led up to it were neccessary to achieve my dream of teaching and making a positive impact on the American Food culture. These experiences include:

• Learning how to cook in the U.S. with what is available and source quality food
• Understanding and avoiding unhealthy ingredients in commercially made foods in the U.S.
• Maintaining a daily routine of family dinners and home-cooked meals while working full-time and raising their children, including one very fussy eater.

For over 17 years, I have been helping people transform how they eat, create more enjoyable mealtimes, and experience greater well-being in all areas of their life.

I could be catagorized as a food blogger sharing recipes or health coach teaching healthy eating habits. However, what sets me apart is that I share more than just recipes or typical healthy eating tips. The foundation of my approach to food and healthy eating habits is based on the French Paradox which teaches the secrets of how the French can stay thin while consuming a diet that routinely includes butter, croissants, bread, and desserts.

In addition to the recipes and eating habits, I teach about igniting meaningful conversations at the table, creating a morning and evening routine to make meal preparation easier, time management tips, how to find time to cook, how to create a lifestyle and manage priorities around food and family, even research on digestion, chewing, and how to have family dinners when dealing with different schedules.

Individuals I have helped have reported dramatic results and have told me that the experience has been life-changing. They feel closer to their children and spouses, children begin to eat a wider variety of foods, and cooking now feels effortless. Others share an improvement in their family’s health and weight and saving time and money, enjoying more relaxed evenings, even with dramatic results such as these, and even accidentally losing 8 pounds by giving up semi-processed foods and paying attention to how they chew and feel better than ever. I am most proud of the emotional impact one small change has had on people’s lives.

When someone tells me that something as simple as serving the table, eating at the same time, or spending 5 more minutes at the table has improved their marriage, their children are finally excited about dinner time, or they had the best conversation ever at the table, it is these emotional results that I am most proud of.

When someone asks me what I do, I struggle to put a title on what I do. Kids call me the Dinner Time Lady, parents call me the Modern-Day Miss Manners, and a sort of Food Guru. Since I don’t care for labels, I don’t try to settle on one, so I just say the foundation of what I teach is simple. It’s not just important what we eat but how we eat, and we need to have a good mealtime routine in addition to good food.

There is something magical that happens when you combine excellent food and taking the time to enjoy it together. What I teach impacts every aspect of life – health, wealth, and relationships- and it all leads to happiness. My first book gives people the tools they need to do this. A second book will follow, that specifically addresses the probelms families encounter around mealtimes. This work is just the beginning of a delicious journey together.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

This is a wonderful question and an important question to answer. I selected this question to encourage others on their creative journey as well as for my own personal growth. Sharing my story has helped me acknowledge and celebrate the moments of success rather than being consumed by the failures, recognizing the creative process is not a linear path. It is a journey of ups and downs, failures, setbacks, rejection, and many moments of self-doubt. Resilience is a crucial quality for any creative and a vital asset to navigate difficult moments. I realized this shortly after deciding to write a book.

The calling I had to write a book was so strong that I never imagined I wouldn’t succeed. Fortunately, I never imagined how difficult it would be. If I had, I am certain I never would have tried. When I wrote the first draft of my book, it was easy. I just sat down and wrote. It took about two months, and it flowed out of me. I was so proud when it was done. Although I knew it needed some editing and polishing, I thought it was quite good. I gave a copy to my husband and sister to read before submitting it to the publishing company. The looks on their faces when they told me I didn’t actually write a book was the moment resilience showed up. They both agreed that my writing needed work. They said I wrote the same thing over and over, just explaining it differently, and I repeated myself often.” Besides being repetitive, it needed a clear structure.

When I went back to review what I had written, I read it through a different lens. My husband and sister were exactly right. It wasn’t a book. It was 180 pages of a brain dump, repeating the main points over and over and telling stories. It needed organization and structure and a clear step-by-step plan to guide the reader through a journey and experience. It also needed supporting information and research back up and to illustrate the points I was teaching. No problem, I thought, I will fix it. I was positive it would be published within 6 months.

Four years alter, after countless edits and versions later, I still didn’t have a completed manuscript. Although I spent every minute I could writing, adding up to hundreds of hours, missed weekends, and late nights. I was tired and frustrated, and I didn’t have much to show for it. But resilience.

Resilience was the only skill I had to persevere. I was, if nothing else, determined. This has not only kept me going over the past several years, but it has been a catalyst for growth and continuous creative evolution. I doubt there is any creative who will say they have not been tested to the limits beyond what they thought they could or would be willing to endure and who didn’t think of quitting numerous times as I did many, many times over the past several years.

It is clear to me that through the creative process, resilience is key to dealing with rejection, adapting and pivoting, overcoming creative roadblocks, staying motivated, and learning from failures. This story of the unexpected time it took me to write my first book is only the surface story. Underneath the surface, there are dozens and dozens more stories of resilience. Among them are learning and adapting to a life with social media beginning at the age of 50 (and I still am), giving up weekends, and suffering through technology, embarrassment, shame, and disheartening feedback time and time again. Until I finally created something that isn’t perfect, but it is good enough, and I am ready to share it with the world.

How does one become resilient? I see this as relatively easy when we don’t silence the voice of our desire and passion. I believe that if we are called to do something, we are meant to do it. If you have the desire to be a poet, actor, or digital creator, you are meant to be just that. It is your destiny, and the only thing that can get in your way is you giving up and not doing it.

My creative journey started the day the idea popped into my head to write a book. The message was so strong and clear, despite the fact that I knew I was not a writer, had no experience, and had never written anything before. Not even a blog. But it didn’t matter; I was drawn to do it and passionate.

Yet when frustrations, failures, and challenges along the creative journey have a stronger voice than our desire and passion, it becomes easy to want to quit. We can remain resilient when we heed not to the voice in our head- the voice of “logic,” doubt, and worry but rather to the voice in our heart and in our gut. This is where the voice of passion lives. When we hold onto this, we can hold onto the dream, remain resilient, and have faith that it is our destiny. Then, the only thing that can happen is we succeed. I have often said I would rather die having written a mediocre book than to have not written it at all. Because once the seed sprouts, in order to be fulfilled, we must bring it to life.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The well-being of children. Contributing to how children are nourished with food from their parents, and helping families reap all the benefits of regular family dinners is my main mission.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dinnerwithcaterina.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caterina.defalco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/returntothetablewithcaterina
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyBmxjyP4MkpCTf89IgscA

Image Credits
Anne Liew, Photographer