Leonardo Grasso

Leonardo Grasso — Vegetarian/vegan Chef

Leonardo first connected with Mirjam as a student, joining his first Level One Tantra training. This experience, together with the subsequent practices, supported a deep transformational process that eventually led him to become a team member at the House of Being. Today, cooking has become his primary act of service and spiritual practice, and he feels deeply grateful to offer nourishing and delightful meals to the practitioners.

He grew up spending many afternoons with his grandmother, helping in the kitchen and attuning his senses to garden herbs and the wild landscapes of the Italian Alps. At the age of seventeen, he chose to boycott his family’s hunting traditions and became vegetarian, later studying the fundamentals of vegan nutrition and experimenting with vegetarian cuisine.

In 2019, Leonardo completed a graduate degree in Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. After several years working at the World Fair Trade Organization, he followed an inner calling to reconnect with beauty and with the activities that spark deep excitement in his life—gastronomy above all.

In 2022, he began his professional career as a chef at Veldkeuken, an organic, vegetarian, and Slow Food restaurant located on the lush estate of Amelisweerd. Leonardo continues to be part of the Veldkeuken kitchen, where ongoing exploration of new flavors and recipes remains a shared passion.

Today, Leonardo’s creativity finds renewed expression and purpose at the House of Being. His love for foraging, herbalism, and fermentation infuses his cuisine, often surprising and delighting the practitioners’ palates. Working with organic, seasonal, and locally sourced ingredients, he brings his heart into the creation of every meal.

You can follow Leonardo here.