People of The Institute       Instructor Profiles         Gerri Sarnataro   With one grandfather a chef at a Greenwich Village Italian restaurant and the other grandfather a grocer, it's not surprising that Gerri Sarnataro remembers a childhood in Queens surrounded by great food. And, although her career as a culinary instructor took almost two decades to come about, Sarnataro sees it as a marvelous circumstance, and one that's managed to make complete use of her skills If her students find her as an inspired teacher with a gift for transmitting both information and passion, it's not surprising. Sarnataro studied education at NYU as an undergraduate, and then went on to earn a Master's at Columbia's Teachers' College. The city's fiscal crisis in the late 1970s led to severe teacher cutbacks, and, unfulfilled in the paths open to her at the time, Sarnataro turned to her love of food and cooking. After attending New York Restaurant School (where she met ICE® Director of Pastry & Baking Nick Malgieri) and the French Culinary Institute, she worked in restaurants---notably at Aureole---and owned a catering business for six years. She also explored France in order to learn more about its culinary traditions, an exploration that consisted of seven separate biking trips Sarnataro began teaching recreational pastry and baking part time at ICE® in 1997, and moved to full-time teaching in both the professional programs and the recreational division a year later. But Sarnataro's dedication to education in the food industry goes beyond the classroom. She is Vice President of Membership for the New York Association of Culinary Professionals (NYACP), and also an active member of education and preservation group Slow Food. For personal enrichment, the intrepid Sarnataro has embarked on an in-depth exploration of Italy and is currently planning her fourth trip, a tour of the Apulia region December, 2002