The Anna Tasca Lanza Foundation
OUR MISSION
Cultivating what matters.
Cook the Farm is a program of the Anna Tasca Lanza Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to preserving culinary heritage and storytelling traditions while promoting cross-cultural understanding and supporting sustainable food systems.
Inspired by the vision of Fabrizia Lanza and the pioneering work out of the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in Sicily, the Foundation was established to ensure that this way of teaching and learning through food continues for generations to come.
Food traditions live through the people who grow, make, and share them. Small farms, artisans, and local producers are the heart of these living food systems.
The Anna Tasca Lanza Foundation exists to support these communities and the knowledge they carry. Cook the Farm is how we live that mission.
Critical scholarships
Tuition directly funds underrepresented students and scholars.
Local partnerships
Supporting the farmers & artisans who shape each program.
Education exchange
Facilitate learning across the Mediterranean & beyond.
Knowledge preservation
Documenting regional food & knowledge before it disappears.
WHEN YOU SUPPORT YOU SUSTAIN
All donations are held in a dedicated account and directly support the Foundation through scholarships for Cook the Farm, public programming, educational content, and program infrastructure. We are committed to transparency in how funds are distributed, ensuring that each contribution meaningfully supports access, learning, and community.
OUR TEAM
Fabrizia Lanza
Founding Visionary
Fabrizia is a storyteller, educator, and cultural curator who invites people to rethink their relationship with food, starting from the ground up. As director of the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in rural Sicily and Founding Visionary of the ATL Foundation, she creates immersive spaces where flavor becomes a lens for exploring culture, agriculture, memory, and change. Born in Palermo in 1961, Fabrizia was raised among wheat fields, olive groves, and vineyards on her family’s centuries-old estate. Though she initially pursued art history and museum curation, she returned home in 2006 to join her mother, Anna Tasca Lanza, in running the school. After taking the helm in 2010, she expanded its mission into one of experiential food education and cultural regeneration. Her legacy and commitment to immersive and inclusive food education and storytelling will live on through the Anna Tasca Lanza Foundation.
Anna Twohig
CEO & Founding Member
Anna was born in San Francisco and spent some time in the Pacific Northwest but the call of home was always in the back of her mind and she returned to San Francisco in 2008. She has spent the last 16 years as a private chef and estate manager. She made the trajectory changing choice to attend Cook the Farm at Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in 2020, and started Terrabaci, a small food import business born out of her love for what she experienced in Sicily. With a passion for preserving Sicilian food ritual, tradition & heritage she shared artisanal products that best represented Sicily with a wider audience. In building lasting relationships with small producers, she strived to share products that clients otherwise would not have access to. Representing people whose practices honor the history of the place and helping them continue in their pursuit of passion and craftsmanship as they move in a world always innovating and modernizing. She remained deeply connected to the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School, and when the opportunity to build the foundation and carry forth the legacy, expanding its reach came to her doorstep, she was all in. Anna is a founding member of the Anna Tasca Lanza Foundation, serving as CEO and helping to continue the beautiful work of Anna Tasca Lanza and Fabrizia Lanza.
Henna Garrison
CFO & Founding Member
Originally from Nantucket, Massachusetts, Henna came to Italy to pursue her Master’s degree in Food Culture and Communication at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) in 2015. In 2017, she joined the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School as Program Director, leading the design and facilitation of immersive programs such as Cook the Farm Sicily, which connect participants with local producers, sustainable agriculture, and Sicilian culinary traditions. She later stepped into the role of General Manager, overseeing operations, team leadership, and strategic planning to ensure the seamless delivery of educational programs and events. Henna is a founding member and current CFO of the Anna Tasca Lanza Foundation, supporting its financial stewardship and long-term development. Her work reflects a deep commitment to education, sustainability, and strengthening connections between people, food systems, and place.
Francesca Farris
Secretary & Founding Member
Director, CTF Programs
Francesca, half American and half Sardinian, grew up immersed in the sights, smells, and rhythms of her parents’ Italian restaurant in Houston, Texas. Rooted in both cultures, she developed an early understanding of food as a bridge between land, identity, and community. With a background in food anthropology and agriculture, she has worked on livestock farms, at a wood-fired sourdough bakery, and apprenticed with a Sardinian shepherd, blending hands-on practice with deep cultural insight. Passionate about immersive, place-based learning, Francesca has served as Program Director of the six-week Cook the Farm Sicily program for the past four years, guiding participants through meaningful engagement with farmers, artisans, and local food traditions. In 2025, she expanded her work into her ancestral homeland by designing and leading the inaugural Cook the Farm Sardinia, exploring the island’s rich pastoral and culinary heritage. Francesca serves as Secretary of the Anna Tasca Lanza Foundation, supporting its organizational development and mission-driven programming.
FIND US @COOK.THE.FARM
