Antonio Alderuccio moved to the UK in 2015. He first started exploring gluten-free and vegan cooking when he met a friend who was both coeliac and diabetic, making going out for dinner almost impossible. Bored at work and in search of a new challenge, he started testing gluten-free and vegan pizza recipes on his friends and began developing a gluten-free pasta with producers in Italy. The recipes that he created ended up forming the basis for his celebrated restaurant, Plant Club UK, which opened in 2019. In 2022, he was invited and subsequently won the Federation of Italian Chefs (FIC), pasta Chef of the Year award, the first time a gluten-free pasta has won the award.