nov 6 2008151 cold wisconsin winters and the smell of freshly baked bread got celebrated chef michael white into the kitchen his italianinspired creations kept him there the midwesterner grew up tasting food from his norwegian heritage but is known for his lavish dishes that incorporate flavors straight out of italy including fresh pastas seafood and tomatoes after heading the critically acclaimed new york restaurant fiamma white joined forces with his current business partner chris cannon and moved on to the now michelinrated alto and the tudor city restaurant limpero white 37 is now master chef in a new kitchen at convivio formerly limpero the italian restaurant he opened this summer to rave reviews including 3 stars from the new york times it was a cold winter night whites relationship with food began when he was a boy learning to cook between weekend trips to swim meets i grew up in the midwest in beloit wis and as a young person food was always important to us we were always cooking you know when its cold out in the winter time youre not going to running around he said i mean you know its cold cold in wisconsin and so we were always baking bread and these types of things his family had a little garden where they grew food in the summertime beloit he said wryly was really not the food mecca of the united states but growing up we had really great food produce corn sweet tomatoes and i remember my family bringing me into chicago to eat at great restaurants and so my brother and i were really exposed to great food at a young age white said food was something that was important being from a norwegian family the food bug got set real early with me rice vegetables cream sauces fish you name it despite their norwegian roots the white family had a taste for italian food and living close to the windy city there was plenty of it we loved to go out on friday nights after a football game and go and have pizza as a family he said it was really special chef chooses his career whites career he said began to take shape when he would hang out in the kitchen of italian restaurants and watch the chefs in action it was so cool i partly learned from just watching and through osmosis and this was before cooking was popular before it was thought of as a bluecollar job cooking now as you know is quite a different story its something that people think is really cool and hip he said back when he was young it was still a career that raised eyebrows especially his fathers my dads a banker and i told my dad that i was going to be a chef and he said what white remembered i think he had visions of me sleeping down in the basement at home and then flipping eggs at