She healed stage 3 Lyme disease with a cutting board and a laptop. Here’s how.

Amy Riolo is an award-winning chef, culinary anthropologist, and best-selling author of 26 books named Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy and called “The Ambassador of Italian Cuisine in the US.” But before any of that, she was legally disabled for three years, battling stage 3 Lyme disease with 42 medical symptoms and temporary paralysis. A therapist’s question (not “if” but “when you survive this, what will you do?”) sent her back to the only two things she still loved: cooking and writing. Within a year, she’d healed completely.

In this conversation, Amy and I talk about:

* Growing up in an Italian-American household where food, family, and the garden were the whole world

* Why a trip to her grandparents’ hometown in Calabria upended everything she thought she knew about health and genetics

* The health crisis that led her to heal herself through cooking and writing — and the promise she made if she survived it

* Amy Riolo Selections, her line of imported Italian ingredients — a Calabrian olive oil, a Sofi Gold Award–winning pesto, a white balsamic, and a rare heirloom-wheat pasta

* The one Mediterranean habit she believes could do more for American wellbeing than almost anything else: communal eating

Follow Amy Riolo:X & LinkedIn: @amyrioloInstagram: @aasrioloFacebook: @amyrioloofficialYouTube: @amyrioloPinterest: @amyriolo

Why Italians Live Well is a conversation series exploring the habits, culture, and mindset behind Italian wellbeing — from the passeggiata to the long lunch to the art of doing less, better.

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