Look who is cooking

Future in food

Having worked in his field for three years and with his doctorate nearly completed, Fiori sees his future in the food and beverage industry, but says his studies have given him the boldness to make that move.

"It gives me the confidence that I can put all my money in my new project and when I'm broke, it's fine, I can find a job," he says.

"The thing I learned the most from nuclear engineering is to think wide, don't focus on only one aspect because the machine in terms of a nuclear power plant is so complex."

Together with a high school friend who was best man at his Italian wedding and is now at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, he is seeking investors to set up a restaurant they project will be the first of a chain in the US.

"It will draw from Italian tradition and project that into the future. It will be the fast casual segment－a segment above fast food in terms of quality, social responsibility, environmental awareness and stuff like that. High-quality. Fresh."

Fiori says he loves Beijing and doesn't know if he will be as happy elsewhere as he has been here, but the lack of space and environmental issues make him reluctant to raise children here.

"China will always be part of my life," he says.