American born chef, Jeff Thickman, began a private catering service in Florence, Italy in 1985, after his studies and training with Cordon Bleu chefs in Paris, France. His artistry and profound knowledge of world cuisines were immediately appreciated and led him to cook for a wide variety of important events such as the 80th birthday party of Frank Sinatra in Los Angeles, the New Year’s feast for the Mayor of St. Petersburg, the President of the World Bank’s dinner for Hillary Clinton, the anniversary celebration dinner for the President of the Weizmann Institute in Tel Aviv, a reception in 1990 for then President of Itay, Francesco Cossiga, and the gala opening dedicated to Russian fashion at the Rinascente of Milan.

Since 1992, Jeff has been the private chef in Florence of Maestro Zubin Mehta, and on various occasions has met and cooked for a long list of celebrities such as Luciano Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman, Madonna, Sting, Tony Bennett, Hubert de Givenchy, Shimon Peres, Gregory Peck, Daniel Day Lewis, Walter Matthau, Sophia Loren, Kirk Douglas, Sir Jonathan Miller, et al.

Jeff Thickman is often invited to act as consultant or Executive Chef for restaurant openings and special occasions all over Europe and the United States. He keeps a very active teaching schedule in his professional kitchen in Florence and throughout the world, and his popular courses in regional Italian and international cuisine have met with enthusiastic response from such diverse personalities as Leah Rabin, late wife of the Prime Minister of Israel, Peter Guber, the former President of Sony Entertainment and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, Jonathan Deitcher, a Vice-President and Director of the Royal Bank of Canada, Gerald Schwartz, the CEO of Onex Corporation, and the Poddar family, Indian entrepreneurs and industrialists.

In 2003, Russian television began the taping of a weekly, Russian-language cooking show starring Jeff both as pianist and chef, and he has appeared frequently on Russia’s highly acclaimed Channel One television.

Articles about and interviews with Jeff have been published in a number of books, magazines and newspapers in Italy, Japan, Russia, and North America. The popular monthly, Grazia Casa, offered a prize – a meal catered by Jeff – to the winner of a national drawing held in March 2008. Italy’s Il Sole 24 Ore (March 2008), d’Ex magazine (December 2007) and the Corriere della Sera’s Style Magazine (December 2006) chose Jeff as one of the country’s few noteworthy private chefs. He was the guest chef in the May 2005 issue of Sale e Pepe, and the prestigious culinary monthly, Gambero Rosso, featured Jeff on the cover of the January 2002 issue as Italy’s top door-to-door caterer and cooking instructor.