MELBOURNE - “From an early age I always cooked with my mum,” explained Capaldo.

“I helped her cut vegetables and bake pies. Then, growing up, I tried to replicate the traditional dishes of my grandparents - my paternal ones from Abruzzo and my maternal ones, Macedonian.”

The 24-year-old has had a very strong bond with his grandparents and their culture since childhood, where he would get behind the stove trying to repeat their dishes.

“I felt, however, that something was always missing in the flavour,” he said.

“Then I realised that the difference lay in the fact that while my grandparents used fresh ingredients, grown and harvested in their garden, I bought them at the supermarket.”

At the age of ten, Justin decided to take care of a small corner of the garden with herbs, which he grew by learning from his grandparents, who were experts.

“I used to accompany ‘baba’ - the Macedonian word for grandmother - to her garden,” he recalled.

“I remember wearing a pair of yellow rubber boots and spending hours out there with her.

“Then I would spend the month of September with my maternal grandparents and, together with my grandfather Anselmo, we would plant rows and rows of borlotti beans.”

Nonno Anselmo Capaldo and nonna Rosa

From that small corner of herbs started years ago, Justin’s garden has grown alongside his passion and skills, into an ever-expanding space.

“It’s very important for me to eat vegetables and fruits in season. The nutritional value is much better, not to mention the taste.”

For the Capaldo family, growing the garden is also a way to take care of each other, sharing the harvest with family, friends and neighbours.

Justin has more than 24 fruit trees, including peach, apricot, plum, pear, and apple trees, as well as avocados and vines.

With the harvested fruit he makes preserves at home, but he also likes to make salami, tomato sauce, olives, pickles, and even Ajvar, a Macedonian sauce made from red peppers.

Capaldo's maternal grandparents, baba Tinka (Tina) Razmovski and dedo Dime (Jim) Razmovski 

All recipes are strictly kept in at least three volumes that Justin jealously guards, and they complement the notes and videos he collects and posts on his social media accounts.

“I write down everything my grandparents taught me, because they are traditions and notions that we are losing,” he stressed.

“I am known among my friends as the ‘king of chicken parma,’ but in general I like to prepare traditional foods, such as Macedonian maznik or pasta alla chitarra.”

His Instagram and Facebook channels are populated with videos in which he demonstrates how to cook certain dishes or how to take care of plants.

One of these videos is very dear to Justin’s heart. In it, he makes salami with his grandfather Anselmo, who passed away a year ago.

“It is the only video I made with him,” he said.

“It also went viral. It has great meaning for me because he passed away shortly afterward.”

Although he is no longer with him physically, Justin has found a way to connect with Grandpa Anselmo and so many other people through his great passion.

“I collect plant seeds that I then name after the people they came from. My grandfather is with me in my garden, and in this way, I remember everyone I love and their stories.”

Capaldo is studying teaching and wants to become a secondary school teacher, where he’d like to teach English and food technology.

He’d like to share his belief of the importance of knowing how to cultivate the land in order to eat well.

“I would like to be able to grow a vegetable garden at the school where I will be working,” he shared.

“To show the kids how much better fresh, seasonal food is and how important it is to know where what we put on the table comes from.”

In the future, Capaldo would also like to run a farm with livestock after having gained some experience when he was a child.

In fact, when he was six or seven years old his parents gave him a few chickens and a sheep.

“My grandfather Anselmo was a shepherd,” he explained.

He had more than 400 sheep in Abruzzo, so much so that he taught me how to shear them, while my maternal grandparents had chickens.”

Every spare moment Capaldo has, he spends in the garden. Observing plants, picking fruits and growing vegetables.

For him, it’s a way to relax and clear his mind.

“I always say that the smell of manure is for me, it’s the scent of home.”

Justin Capaldo is on Instagram and Facebook as capaldo_cooks.