They called it "the cook of God": Sister Germana, author of dozens of successful cookbooks and a well-known face on TV since the 1980s, died at 81 in Varesotto, where she had lived for some time. Her name was Martina Consolaro, she was born in Crespadoro, in the province of Padua and, when she was very young, she had discovered her passion for cooking.

Home economics courses

He was 16 years old, when he entered the Sisters of the Christian Famulato in Turin as a postulant: it was an institute for the pastoral care of the "domestic workers". In 1958, when the nuns organized a home economics course for girlfriends, they asked her to take a cooking class. "I started to cry, I didn't even know where to start," Sister Germana had told "Famiglia Cristiana". “Then I realized that I could put my experience to good use: the city girls did not even know how to break an egg while I, the daughter of farmers, had learned to prepare food with what was available . His motto, ever since, was: "Where the wallet doesn't go, the brain comes."

The first book When angels cook

Then, with Dominicans Angelico Ferrua and Giordano Muraro, Sister Germana founded the Punto Familia in Turin, with courses for boyfriends, but also the assistance of psychologists and doctors for couples. It is there that the publisher Piemme arrives to ask for an article from Father Muraro, who was however absent. Sister Germana comes forward, who, in 1983, made her debut with her first book, When angels cook: three thousand recipes, two million copies sold, 32 reprints. Many other successful volumes of the series follow In the kitchen with Sister Germana, a column on "Famiglia Cristiana" starts and the invitations begin on television. The critic Edoardo Raspelli takes her to Rai, where he participates in What are you doing, eating?, with Enza Sampò, Your facts with Magalli and Giletti and also the Sanremo festival, in 1999.

In recent years, Sister Germana has lived in one retirement home in the Varese area, continuing to work forAgenda, out each year with De Agostini. His life is told in an autobiography, The life and recipes of Sister Germana (Editorial Program). And his latest book is Sister Germana's cookbook: 30 years of home cooking, released four years ago. His funeral, as required by the containment rules of Covid-19, will be in strictly private form, in Durlo of Crespadoro.

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