Meet The Pasta Queen's Husband, Brook Zimmatore: 4 Things to Know About Nadia Munno's Spouse
Brook zimmatore is becoming a hot ticket item alongside his wife, nadia munno, better known to most as the pasta queen..
Following the debut of The Pasta Queen on Amazon Prime Video , viewers have scoured the internet for more information on star Nadia Munno's husband, Brook Zimmatore.
Munno built a massive social media following before her work on The Pasta Queen , named after her nickname. The Prime Video series shows Munno traveling through Italy and working in her kitchen, sharing ingredients from parts of Italy and making authentic dishes native to the country.
The end of Episode 8 briefly shows 42-year-old Brook Zimmatore, Munno's husband, as the series debuted on October 24.
4 Things To Know About The Pasta Queen's Brook Zimmatore
Brook Zimmatore Graduated from East Surrey College
As listed on Zimmatore's LinkedIn page, he studied at East Surrey College in Redhill, England, between 1995 and 1997.
He graduated from the institution with a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science.
Brook and Nadia Got Married in 2003
Munno and Zimmatore celebrated their 21st anniversary in July 2024 after first getting married in 2003. This was confirmed via a Facebook post from Munno wishing her husband a happy 15th anniversary in July 2018.
Additionally, a profile written by Mansion Global detailed how the couple met, which came after Munno met the members of a British jazz band who invited her to tour with them and sell merchandise.
Through friends in the band, she met Zimmatore, who is a native of Britain. After they got married, they started a company together called Massive Alliance, which creates and distributes content to amplify personal brands of corporate executives.
Now, the pair have four children together between the ages of four and 15.
Brook and His Family Have Lived All Over the World
Although Zimmatore has an English background, he and Munno have lived in various countries all over the world since 2015.
As shared by Munno on Instagram , the pair moved to the United States in 2015 with their three children (at the time) searching for their "first ever 'owned' home."
They had their first three children in Italy while living there, calling the country "a special place" and somewhere they would return to "at least once a year:"
"My husband, myself, and our three children moved to the US in 2015 and searched for a year for our first ever 'owned' home. We lived in Italy together and had our first three children in my family home in the city center of Rome, that home will always be our first-ever home and where our kids were born. It is and always will be a special place. We go back at least once a year!"
They previously started living in London in 2013 to start their company, which led to some of their biggest clients being based in the United States. Ti led them to open an office in Munno's home country, specifically picking Florida:
"We moved to London in 2013 to kick off our company which grew quickly, some of our biggest clients were US-based so we decided to open an office here on the East Coast. Florida has always been a place close to our hearts, my mother lived here briefly in her childhood, before coming to Rome where she met my father…"
She thoroughly enjoys "living on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico" and found their home in 2016. She spent "a year renovating it" and turning it into their dream home. They then had their fourth child in that house, making them "truly an international family:
"The weather here is gorgeous and I am very accustomed to extreme heat having grown up in the south of Italy, I love living on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, it truly is a paradise. We found this home in 2016 and spent a year renovating it and making it into our very special, safe place to raise our kids. We were blessed to welcome Penelope our fourth child, born at home, like my previous three, this time in Florida, making us truly an international family!"
Brook Is Part of Many Successful Business Ventures
Zimmatore has several successful business ventures on his resume, as seen on his LinkedIn page. Along with his work at Massive Alliance, other ventures include co-founding Strixus Magazine in March 2020 and being on the Fast Company Executive Board since August 2022.
His profile at Fast Company lists him as a media and publishing technologist, entrepreneur, and author who specializes in building technology for people and publishers which improves information provided in the media.
He also has multiple articles posted on the website discussing topics like spending in business, leadership, and executive influencers.
The Pasta Queen is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video
LATEST NEWS
Who Actually Is TikTok's Pasta Queen?
Celebrity chefs often have an identifiable catchphrase, and if you're a fan of the Pasta Queen , you'll know her simple trademark slogan: "Just gorgeous!" The Pasta Queen, whose real name is Nadia Caterina Munno, is the latest celebrity chef sensation, yet unlike a lot of chefs on The Food Network, Munno built her brand through Tik Tok.
While the Pasta Queen may be a relatively new celebrity chef on the scene, she's recently gained a lot of momentum with a best-selling cookbook. She's also signed up with powerhouse talent agency CAA, which means 2023 could be a heck of a year for her.
If you're new to the Pasta Queen, or if you're already a fan, there's still a lot you may not know about her, including how she became a viral phenomenon. Here's an introduction to the Pasta Queen, and some facts about her even fans may not know.
Who is the Pasta Queen?
Nadia Caterina Munno is a native of Italy, having being born in Rome, and spent a few years of her early childhood in a region of Italy located near Naples, called Caserta. While she moved back to Rome at five years old, her family has deep roots in Caserta, as she explained to America Domani , she comes from a long line of farmers, her family had been farming since the 1700s, and they opened their own pasta factory around 1860. As Munno explained, "[My family] has always been in the business of food and providing the area with wheat and basic produce, and this is something I've always been around."
Growing up in Italy, Munno knew there was a deep respect for cooking traditions, and she's carried these traditions with her own work. In fact, Munno came from a family of pasta makers, who were nicknamed the "Macaroni."
It was this link to her family's history and traditions that spurred her to begin creating on TikTok, after watching what she considered an abomination of a lasagna recipe being posted on the platform.
How she broke through on TikTok
So how did Nadia Caterina Munno break through on TikTok as opposed to, say, the Food Network? It was a wonderful accident that created a lucrative career, as Munno explains on her official website : "Way back in 2020, one of my daughters showed me this little app named TikTok, I had no idea what it was about, but I immediately investigated the content to ensure she was not seeing anything inappropriate."
Munno was inclined to simply delete the app, but then she witnessed something that made her toes curl ; someone trying to cook lasagna — badly. She described how her pride in her culture rose in indignation and spurred her to make amends: "I knew then that I needed to share the high-quality, accessible, authentic recipes that have been in my family for generations with the world."
Munno also realized (via America Domani ) there was a big void on TikTok because, as far as she was concerned, nobody actually knew how to create an authentic Italian dish. Considering the generations of great chefs in her family, she decided to dub herself the Pasta Queen of Tik Tok. Munno learned about TikTok from her children, and she took to it like a duck to water — so much so, that she made it her full-time job.
How the Pasta Queen drew from her Italian heritage
In Italy, Munno understood the long heritage of cooking and incredible food, and she's carrying those traditions with her today.
As she explained (via Italy magazine ), in Italy it was easy to find farmers' markets where people could buy the freshest fruit, vegetables, fish, bread, and more. "That's how I grew up," she says. "going to the mercato and watching the farmers bring their goods from their land very early in the morning, every single day."
So it was quite a culture shock for Munno when she moved to America, where farmer's markets weren't on every corner, and it wasn't easy to get the right fresh food and ingredients. Then she forged relationships with local farmers, and rebuilt her foundation from there. As she recommends, "Build relationships with farmers in your area that care about the soil and, in return, support local businesses and families. These relationships feel like something you find in Italy."
How the pandemic helped launch her career
Before she became a viral sensation, Munno had moved to America, where she landed a job working in marketing with her husband. Then the pandemic hit, and Munno, like the rest of us, was stuck at home with a lot of free time on her hands. However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because she discovered TikTok through her kids, per Italy Magazine .
As Munno told the David Leite podcast , she became determined to launch her brand. "I'm going to do this," she recalled. "I'm locked in my house, my company is on standby, there was nothing better to do really. We couldn't go outside much, we couldn't mingle with friends, so I had a lot of time on our hands." Munno didn't need high-tech equipment — she took videos with her iPhones — and she started posting like crazy. As she explained, "At that point, it was about March [2020], I started posting at least once a day."
While the pandemic was a horrible event for many, people like Munno provided something great for the world to make many people's lives much easier. During the pandemic, many of us had to do something with our free time, and cooking was a great way to make the time pass — and it boosted Munno's career to the moon.
Some of her favorite recipes
So what are some of the Pasta Queen's favorite recipes? One popular dish on her TikTok is called the "angry baroness." "Something amazing happens when you combine garlic, onions, and a little tomato base with vodka. It's a chemical reaction of love. Next, add some heavy cream and chili pepper, with a drizzle of salt, and a scrunch of pepper."
Another is "the assassin's spaghetti, " which includes minced garlic, chili peppers, and tomato broth. Then there's "the lazy princess," which like the assassin's spaghetti is a one-pot entrée; you cook diced onions and peas in olive oil, then add in salt, pepper, and boiling water to make a creamy sauce, and you finally whisk an egg with parmesan cheese.
As Munno told Fed and Fit , the three recipes she's the proudest of include ricotta meatballs, lemon pasta (as she recalled: "It was one of Drew Barrymore's favorites so we did it on her show"), and panzanella, which she called one of the easiest recipes her aunt taught her.
Some of her favored tools and ingredients
It's the most obvious thing to say, but one of the most important ingredients in cooking a great Italian meal, if not the most important, is, of course, pasta.
As Munno explained to Fed & Fit , "I found that there's one thing we can agree on – Pasta. You can't hate it. You can't attack it. You can only love it." Her favorite pasta shape is spaghetti, and as she explained to Italy Magazine , "It is so southern Italian and versatile; you can make it for nearly everything, and you can't help but love twirling it with a fork."
As far as the most important tools to have in your kitchen, Munno recommends getting copper pots and pans, a good serving fork, wooden spoons, ("I love using wood," she explains), and a cheese grater for parmesan and pecorino. Of the latter, she proclaims, "These cheeses are a religion for us!"
Her debut cookbook
Last year, the Pasta Queen's career took a major step up with her first cookbook . The cookbook is titled "A Just Gorgeous Cookbook," and it hit No.5 on the New York Times best sellers list, according to The Hollywood Reporter .
On her website , Munno wrote: "I am so proud to announce that after over a full year of hard work and a lifetime of love and passion for all things pasta, my debut cookbook is now available." The book was published by Simon and Schuster, one of the biggest publishing houses in the world. But it's not just a collection of great recipes, it also introduces a part of Italy that Munno knew growing up. "For me, Italian cooking is about more than just food," she continues. "It's about the land, the tradition, the hospitality, the history, and the culture."
Publisher's Weekly had praise for her cookbook, stating: "[It is] thorough and infectiously jubilant, this spirited celebration of Italy's most famous food is a winner."
Signing with talent powerhouse CAA
After the success of her TikTok channel and cookbook, Munno has also signed with the major talent agency CAA, per The Hollywood Reporter , which has in the past counted such luminaries as LeBron James among its ranks (per Bleacher Report ).
CAA, which stands for Creative Artists Agency, launched a culinary division in 2018, with industry veteran Andrew Chason at the helm. When the division launched, a report said (via License Global ): "The new CAA culinary team will work collaboratively across CAA to create new business opportunities in areas such as licensing and merchandising, marketing, publishing, television, digital media, corporate hospitality and more."
The agency is no stranger to high-profile chefs, with personalities such as Gordon Ramsay , Roy Choi, Curtis Stone, and Katie Lee on their books. And now, with her audience of over 2.6 million followers on TikTok, the Pasta Queen proudly stands among their ranks.
The Untold Truth Of TikTok's The Pasta Queen
As TikTok, Instagram, and other social media outlets become even more heavily-searched resources for recipes (and food inspiration), there have also been some great cooks that have showcased both their favorite dishes and techniques, as well as their personalities. Cue The Pasta Queen, who has racked up thousands of views on TikTok with her 1.9 million followers and has made a presence on Instagram , too, with more than 860,000 followers.
The Pasta Queen has become known for her takes on traditional classics (like her cacio e pepe , which is droolworthy), but also for her Italian-style cooking that has upped the ante on the popular cultural cuisine — we're specifically looking at her Devil's Kiss recipe on YouTube . And, of course, there's her humor as seen in the wine cookie video here that has big laughs all the way through, alongside her signature "ingredients" hair toss. She's even made guest appearances on daytime programs like "The Drew Barrymore Show" and other entertainment shows now that she's become a viral sensation.
So, who is the woman behind The Pasta Queen? We found out everything there is to know about her.
Who is the woman behind The Pasta Queen?
Yes, this TokTok star and content creator has a real name, and it's not The Pasta Queen. Born Nadia Caterina Munno, according to Cheat Sheet , she grew up in Rome, Italy, which definitely helps to validate and pique interest in many of the recipes she develops and shares, knowing they are authentic. Even more interesting? There is more to her social media name than just a fun handle. It turns out that she has truly earned the title of The Pasta Queen based on her background.
In a recent episode of the podcast, "Talking With My Mouth Full," The Pasta Queen revealed that her family actually has quite a long history with pasta. Her great-great- grandparents actually started a pasta factory in the south of Italy, around the Naples area, back in the 1800s. The factory, she says, stayed afloat until after World War II when they had to close it.
Still today, she says, people call her family "the macaroni" when they see them because of their ties back to the business.
"The pasta-making goes back five generations. Since the early 19th century, our family was known locally as 'Macaronis,' and they ran a small pasta factory, supplying fresh pasta to the larger distributors in Gragnano (which is where all the popular pasta brands operate from today). So you could say that pasta is in my DNA! Fun fact: DNA is shaped like fusilli pasta," she told Tube Filter .
Her career all started from a love of dinner parties
As a self-proclaimed "party animal," The Pasta Queen notes that she was inspired to start doing her now famous videos as she was always trying to host large, Italian dinner parties . At first, she started on YouTube when she moved to the US in 2015 (and now lives in Florida), according to Tube Filter , but found the ease of TikTok let her create more content and much quicker, and it grew from there.
"When lockdown hit, I went into [social media] with the intention of doing it," she said on the "Talking With My Mouth Full " podcast. "I had a lot of time on my hands. So, I was extremely happy to just be cooking in my kitchen, and me and my brother and my cousin just started filming."
These early, DIY videos kicked off the beginning of her social media rise. Then, things got a bit more consistent as, unfortunately, the COVID-19 virus continued to get worse and things started to shut down — she had more time on her hands and more followers looking for inspiration for their own home cooking . Munno said that by the time the full lockdown happened in mid-March 2020, she began posting a video or some type of content at least once a day. She started showcasing all of her favorite recipes first and her audience just kept growing and growing — reaching 1 million followers in just 5 months, says Tube Filter.
"I love seeing the people who follow my accounts who appreciate my humor. I know many can relate, and am not afraid to show human flaws, make fun of myself, or release my inner, extreme Italian," she told the outlet.
The Pasta Queen is now a family affair
While The Pasta Queen herself is a focal point in so many of her social media stories and videos, there is also another fun person who sometimes steals the show — her Pasta Bro, Agostino. Yes, she says that Agostino is her real brother, and he definitely adds character to the videos through his expressions, recipe fails, and more. Additionally, Munno's father, Antonio, who carries the nickname "Pappa Pasta," has also made a few appearances in videos, too, and her fans seem to get very excited when he does.
However, behind the scenes, her family is usually demanding that she finish shooting so that they can hurry up and eat what she's been cooking, according to Tube Filter . Apparently, they don't tire of pasta , either, as The Pasta Queen notes she goes through about 40 bags of noodles a week. Mama Mia, that's a lot of spaghetti.
Her trademark hair flip is a thing of beauty
While on the "Talking With My Mouth Full " podcast, The Pasta Queen explains that she tailors her content towards which social media platform she is working on. TikTok, she says, is where she is the most dramatic. However, there is a shared, trademark trait amongst all of the videos that has caught the attention of adoring fans everywhere — Munno's famous hair flip whilst saying the word, "ingredients."
The hair flip, says The Pasta Queen, started because she is a lover of dramatic telenovelas and plot twists. She furthers that the hair flip came about as a way to showcase that part of herself and add a little drama and flair to the videos she is making to keep audiences engaged. She "dreams in telenovelas," she told the podcast host. "Everything is just a little more dramatic."
If you look close enough, you can see that Pasta Bro is also in the background many times, usually doing something snarky behind The Pasta Queen's back while she is flipping her hair, for even more comedy gold.
The Pasta Queen really loves pasta
It may sound obvious with a name like "The Pasta Queen," but this social media star really does love pasta. Munno recently revealed to Leite's Culinaria that her favorite recipes include her pasta with peas (seen on YouTube ), even though it's a weird choice for her.
"I love that recipe a lot, and it was one of Kylie Jenner's favorites," she said.
She also revealed that the classic lemon pasta on YouTube here that she makes is also one of her most popular recipes as well. But, she admits that the lemon pasta is actually an old recipe from Sophia Loren that she has put her own spin on with the addition of heavy cream. She says that, traditionally, the lemon pasta is made dairy-free.
Loren, she adds, has been an idol to her. The Pasta Queen says that she loves the way Loren cooks and that many of the recipes the actress has shared are staples in her own family kitchen. And to be honest, we can see the same star-in-the-making quality with Munno.
IMAGES