Elizabeth Bright was born in New York City to parents from the deep south, so she has been multi-cultural from birth. When Elizabeth lived in America she listened to Italian and Cuban music, but now admits to listening to American music, reading the New York Times, and watching American television on Netflix. Together with her husband they speak English together, and their children have always refused to speak anything other than English with her at home.

Elizabeth loves living in Sanremo, but considers herself American. She has always found it easy to integrate, most certainly because her mother, a journalist, decided to move with her and her father to Germany when she was 2. Her first language was German, so much so, that when Elizabth was sent to stay with her grandparent in Tennessee when parents divorced, she forgot German, learned some English, and came home to Germany unable to speak a word of either language. She believes it takes humility and respect for other cultures to be accepted.

Elizabeth returned to New York City in 1970 with a German accent, which was soon replaced with a New York one. Her mother’s work soon took her to the Washington Post. She was one of the first women editors at a major U.S. newspaper. She loved to entertain, and Elizabeth grew up loving listening to fascinating stories told by her fellow journalists. She was also a well-known Country and Bluegrass singer. Either journalists, writers, photographers or musicians from all over the world spent time at their house.

Elizabeth's love for languages inspired her to study Mandarin at Georgetown University when she was still in high school. The determination she had impressed the head of the Oriental Studies department, who allowed her to take the intensive courses as a special student. Elizabeth first visited China in her last year of high school in 1981 and returned to spend her junior year studying in Beijing in 1983. A doctor who helped Elizabeth through a brief illness was also a Kungfu master. He helped her understand the unity of body and mind, which informs her natural medicine treatment today.

Elizabeth worked as a chef in a New York restaurant to pay for her studies at Columbia University. It was here that she connected the food we enjoy as pleasure to its both beneficial and damaging effect on health. Elizabeth had her first child at 24 and she took great pride in deepening her knowledge of nutrition to ensure her newborn's health.

Elizabeth has three children, aged 28, 27, and 21. All are creative and artistic. They spent their elementary years at the French Lycée Rochambeau in Washington, D.C. mostly because she wanted them to be bilingual before they were seven. All now speak three languages and inform their art with different cultures.

Elizabeth's husband Pierre, is French-Italian, and she decided to return to Europe in 2004. She had fallen in love with the Ponente area on their visits here, and they were able to make the move when her two older children had finished high school. Her youngest child continued grade school in Italian, which was easier because she had already been schooled in French.

Elizabeth enjoys practicing Osteopathy and Naturopathy in Italy, and considers herself lucky to meet many wonderful people in this area. She has been able to combine Chinese medicine influence with the natural medicine she studied in America and Europe. Her ability to help her patients is a constant reward and her specialization in endocrinology, the complicated dance of human hormones, continues to amaze Elizabeth every day.

Elizabeth has lived in the Introterra, in Ventimiglia and now in Sanremo, where her husband grew up. She enjoys taking long walks in the hills foraging for medicinal plants and so greatly appreciates the wealth of local plants that can be found in this area. She believes we are fortunate to have access to wonderful fresh vegetables and high quality fish and meats. The plentiful sunshine, the landscape of the sea and mountains makes her happy every day. This area is her home, and she is quite happy to live here for the rest of her life, as long as she is able to travel to Hong Kong every year to recharge her batteries.

www.elizabethbright.co

We asked Elizabeth or famous 5 questions and this is how she replied...

What makes you smile?

Listening to my children sing always makes me smile. Holiday get-togethers are often highlighted by impromptu jam sessions, with my son on guitar, and Pierre on the conga.

What or who inspires you?

I have been fortunate to be inspired my several people, but I must say the human body inspires in its resourcefulness, and amazing ability to heal itself with the proper guidance. If we treat it well, we will feel well. Unfortunately today how to eat is very confusing because food is more and more not only nourishment, but also politics and market.

Do you believe in gut instincts?

Of course. There are more receptors for neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, which calm, focus, and motivate us, in the gut than in the brain.

Your three essential things if you were stuck in the desert island would be what?

A Swiss army knife, a rope, and a book of American folk songs.

If you were planning a day/night out, what do you enjoy doing most?

I love to dance, which I haven’t been able to do for a long time, because I don’t like the music they play in clubs, but if I could make sure the music was good, I’d love to go out dancing.

During the day I like to explore new places with my husband and take pictures of landscape or architecture