Karima Magazine May-June2107
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N<br />
Rima Barkett<br />
RIMA BARKETT—Owner/Chef of Bella Vista<br />
Cucina Italiana Restaurant Devoted Wife,<br />
Mother, Founder of Ambassadors of Peace,<br />
other nonprofit organizations. By Angela Karim<br />
All Around Awesome<br />
If anyone has met Rima Barkett, they know that she has a<br />
huge heart and would give you the shirt off of her back if you<br />
needed it. She has continually given back to her community<br />
in so many ways and is a humble soul, who never seeks recognition<br />
for any of her good deeds. What you also know (if<br />
you have ever had the pleasure of meeting her) is that she is<br />
an amazing chef and the food she prepares will make your<br />
mouth water, begging for a second bite…and then another<br />
and another.<br />
Family Traditions<br />
Her grace and culinary skills are by absolutely no happenstance.<br />
She credits her mother for instilling within her the<br />
great values she has and igniting a special passion for cooking<br />
that you will see in every one of her carefully prepared<br />
dishes. She recalls the many days and nights in Tuscany, Italy,<br />
where she grew up, watching her mother create healthy, simple,<br />
and tasty dishes for family and friends. Rima began to<br />
view cooking as a way of expressing love and found it to be<br />
a great vehicle for bringing people together as they enjoyed<br />
a meal.<br />
Cooking Up More Skills<br />
In 2002 she opened her first authentic, northern Italian<br />
restaurant in Stockton, California. Her restaurant, Café Luna<br />
Spaghetteria caught the attention and taste buds of many locals.<br />
As a result she grew a loyal following of many “foodies.”<br />
Four years later she moved to Rome with her husband and<br />
daughter, where she would find herself working on the World<br />
Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. Somehow in between her<br />
busy schedule, she managed to work on perfecting her culinary<br />
skills at the internationally acclaimed Cordon Bleu in<br />
Florence and the Gambero Rosso in Rome. Rima has since<br />
prepared meals for many notable and distinguished guests<br />
inside of her home in Italy. Some of these guests include<br />
George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Jimmy Wayne, and a number<br />
of Peace Nobel Laureates.<br />
Taste of Italy<br />
Now Rima is back in California and has recently opened up<br />
her latest culinary expression. Bella Vista Cucina Italiana<br />
restaurant is located in downtown Stockton next to the Regal<br />
Stockton City Center Stadium 16 & IMAX. Bella Vista Cucina<br />
restaurant has only been open for a very short time and already<br />
receiving rave reviews.<br />
Rima is the founder of Ambassadors of Peace, California,<br />
which the President of Architects of Peace Onius in Rome,<br />
Italy, President of A Tavola Together, LLC, VP of A Tavola<br />
Together Foundation, Stockton, a board member of the<br />
Child Abuse Prevention Council, a trustee for Dameron<br />
Hospital, Vice President of the California State Fair, a board<br />
member of Transitional Learning Center.one, a former executive<br />
and Institutional Relations Officer for the Summit of Nobel<br />
Peace Laureates.<br />
<strong>Karima</strong> Take Away<br />
Follow your heart and find your passion, give<br />
what you can to others and you will see a reward,<br />
and make sure to foster the gift inside of you, because<br />
the world is waiting on you to enter into<br />
your destiny.<br />
19<br />
<strong>Karima</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>.indd 22<br />
5/21/17 5:07 PM
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