George and Amal's chef talks about their favorite foods

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George and Amal Clooney's Chef Shares the Adorable Thing Their Twins Do When They Like a Meal


Courtesy George Clooney

ELIZABETH LEONARD  

September 27, 2018 03:10 PM

George Clooney makes no bones about it: neither he nor Amal can cook particularly well. Fortunately, Viviana Frizzi, a 33-year-old Como, Italy, native and award-winning chef, is there to pick up the culinary slack.

The Clooneys’ full-time chef since 2013, Frizzi “can make anything, including handmade gnocchi with pesto that would make you cry,” George tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue.

“Vivi cooks almost every night for us now because we have the twins. Going out isn’t as easy or as interesting as it used to be. Besides all of our friends would rather eat her food than hit up a local restaurant in Como or in London.”

Courtesy George Clooney

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In addition to a weekly pizza night (“George and Amal’s favorite pizza is a margherita with rocket salad,” says Frizzi), her ever-expanding repertoire includes sushi and Lebanese and Indian dishes, as well as risottos and Italian fare that even the couple’s 16-month-old twins, Ella and Alexander, enjoy.

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“The twins are not fussy eaters,” says Frizzi, whose child-friendly menus include salmon, tomato risotto, margherita pizza and ricotta with raspberries. “When they like a dish, they put their little fingers on their cheeks, smile and say, Mmm!”

Ari Michelson

For more on George and Amal Clooney’s personal chef, plus our 49 other Food Faves, pick up this week’s issue on newsstands Friday.

So has Frizzi—whom George calls “a remarkable person in and out of the kitchen”—managed to teach the Clooneys to cook?

“Honestly, Amal and I are such poor chefs that any lesson from Vivi in the kitchen would be like teaching a whale to fly,” he says.

They’re just happy to have a seat at Vivi’s table.

Why are they doing this article? I thought they valued their privacy so much?

I wondered that too, Fava and wondered about the timing of it - and I think it might be two-fold.

I think they needed a story to lengthen the space between two other events - Harry and Meghan's visit and George's accident. So I reckon this is to be proactive versus the reactive. Also one of them is in the limelight a bit more now so it's extra protection i e a few more Clooney stories instead of a couple - and now I think about it there's another potential story coming up with Princess Eugenie's wedding.....so a flood of stories helps divert questions away from those you don't want to talk about.........

My first thought was, why is George now saying he can't cook?

In the past, he's been proud of learning to fend for himself in the kitchen. A few friends have bragged about his specialty dishes he's cooked for them in the past. He cooked the night he proposed, reportedly. Now all of a sudden, he's as helpless in the kitchen as Amal?

I wonder about the article, too, but it has nothing to do with the timing.