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Updated: October 15, 2025 12:28 am IST
Actor and writer Maria Goretti began her culinary journey at the age of 40 while balancing family and education. She highlights the importance of lifelong learning.
Actor, author and former VJ, Maria Goretti is now also popular for her cooking-related content on social media. She admits that although she was always fond of food, her interest in cooking developed when she became a mother. On World Student Day, she recalls enrolling in culinary school at age 40 and letting perimenopause symptoms prevent her from becoming a student again.
Maria, 53, recalls, “My 40s were full of adventures. The year I turned 40, I went to culinary school at Tante Marie in the UK. The kids were young and I had to juggle with Arshad (Warsi, actor-husband) and arranging his dates so that one of us could stay with them. My parents came to stay with us, friends and family joined in, as I was away for three months.”
When she returned to college the second time, her passion for learning did not end there, the children were older but still in school. “I enrolled for an 18-week course spread over a year, where we were in the kitchen from Monday to Saturday from 8am to 10pm. I also had to change campuses from Paris to London and back in order to complete three levels before earning a chef’s degree. The first time I found the exams easy. The second time I was going through perimenopause, which caused me to study hard but not remember anything due to brain fog. I was so worried that cries I thought I would fail but that’s all you think about. “You have to believe in yourself that you can get through it,” says Maria.
She proudly shares, “My children attended my graduation ceremony in Paris and Arshad attended the ceremony a little later, after his shoot.” She says that it is never too late to learn and age should not be a barrier. She advises, “The best time to try something new is now. If you’re passionate about something, dive into it, it’s never too late to study.”
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