Bringing Love to the Table

When Talin Ohannessian Perez was a little girl learning to bake traditional Armenian dishes alongside her beloved “Nani”—her grandmother—she had no idea that the comfort she found in cooking was something she’d eventually want to share with the world.

Born in Tarzana, California, Talin moved with her family to Ventura County when she was a year old. Her grandmother, Avnive, now 94, lives with the family, and Talin (pronounced “tah-LEEN”), 29, considers herself the luckiest of six grandchildren in that she was the one who benefitted from Nani’s culinary lessons. It was only after she graduated from college with a degree in public health and ventured across the world that she found her calling.

In 2013, Talin was working at a law firm owned by family friends when they invited her to meet Tracy Evans, founder of the nonprofit organization iReachAfrica. She was excited to learn of its goal of assisting Africans with health issues, educational programs, agricultural development and social advancement, so she decided to embark on a year-long humanitarian mission. To raise money for her accommodations and program expenses, Talin baked French-style loaves of white, whole-wheat, olive and garlic-rosemary bread.

“I even hosted a fundraiser party with wine, bread and different spreads they could taste the bread with, but the intent of the event was to sell bread,” says Talin. “And I had spent all day making 50 of each bread type.”

During her year in Mozambique, her job was to train two local young women in health issues relevant to their community’s needs. She also periodically went out into the field to help hands-on. When there was an opening for a cook to make meals for her co-workers, Talin jumped at the chance to fill the position, in addition to her regular duties.

“I was mainly cooking for the humanitarian workers from Europe and America,” she says. “They had their requests, too, so there were days we’d make Mexican night, or Italian night, one day there was shepherd’s pie, and every Friday was barbecue night.”

In Africa, says Talin, grocery stores don’t typically offer the enormous selection we’re used to in suburbia and urban areas, and you have to travel some distance to get to one.

“We’d have to plan our menu a week in advance and drive to the closest city center—about 45 minutes,” she says. “There were a few stores that had almost everything, but it was a limited selection. Even the meats—every week it would change. You’d make a menu, and get to the store, and if there was one key ingredient missing, you’d have to change a meal or improvise. It was like the show ‘Chopped!’”

Inspired rather than discouraged by the shortfall, Talin took up the agricultural gardening section of their compound.

“It was a small garden, but it was beautifully set up.”

It flourished, she says, despite the tropical climate and humidity, including one season of constant lightning storms.

Upon Talin’s return to the U.S., she was working as a babysitter when she happened upon Carrara Pastries in Moorpark.

“I went with a friend. We ordered a special pasta. I’ll never forget it—a short rib ravioli with a beautiful white sauce with a balsamic glaze,” says Talin. “I can still taste it and that was five years ago! That was it. I looked at my girlfriend and I said, ‘I have to work here!’”

She started by waiting tables, then making gelato, and gradually began learning to bake breads, cakes and pastries. Eventually, she and chef Massimiliano Carrara’s right-hand man, pastry chef Andres Perez, fell in love and married. It was Massimiliano’s brother, chef Damiano Carrara, who added an extra vowel to her name, giving her the more Italian-sounding name Talina, by which some patrons now know her professionally.

Talin began blogging about her food experiences, and added some mesmerizingly ethereal cooking videos, created by childhood friend Alik Tamar, a director and filmmaker.

Her passion for cooking has evolved into Talin’s Table, a popup fine-dining experience. By using locally sourced ingredients cooked with the love and care she learned from her grandmother, along with the culinary education she received hands-on, she offers multi-course meals that she hopes will bring people joy and camaraderie for an evening. She hand-makes the guests’ invitations, does the cooking in the host’s home and, while the group is dining, she tells them about their meal and ingredients.

“The whole idea of Talin’s Table is to make people feel valued— that they’re worth being served—and worth the five-course meal. The reason it’s different is you don’t have to pay big money for it. It’s very accessible,” she says. “[Participants] talk to each other and get to know each other. It’s a nice networking experience. It’s amazing what food does. It’s the perfect icebreaker. Aside from music, I think food is the most common language everyone has.”

To her, food is a spiritual experience for both the cook and the eater.

“When I’m cooking, the only thing I can think about is I’m praying through the whole time,” she says. “I want people feeling so blessed and so valued and so loved—to really sense the heart of community and love through the food they’re eating.”

On the web: TalinsTable.com, Instagram @Cheftalina