Meet the Italian chef who is cheering up Hong Kong’s needy children, one cherry pie at a time
So far, 3,000 have been fed, with cook seeking to expand initiative that started last Christmas involving volunteers who bake and donate cherry pies
Ermanno Lelli left his native Italy aged 19 with just 40,000 lire (HK$175), two boxes of cigarettes and a plane ticket to London in his back pocket – and he has never looked back.
The 40-year-old chef has since lived all over the world, spending the last nine years in Asia, six of them in Hong Kong, running various cooking enterprises and marketing consultancies.
Born into a large Neapolitan family, where meals were always made from scratch, he is justifiably passionate about traditional Italian food. He believes being able to cook is not only an important life skill, but also a hugely adaptable talent which meant he has never been short of work.
His hometown of Napoli also has a huge baking tradition: during the 17th and 18th centuries, nuns in the town’s monasteries would often bake for social events, partly for their own enjoyment but also to earn money and curry favour with influential people.
Last year, the exuberant Italian felt inspired to use his skills to support some of Hong Kong’s needy children. Baking for a Cause sees volunteers cooking up delicious cherry pies for children in the city’s orphanages and hospitals.
For a large part of their time in hospital, these children are alone
