For the past 18 months, Ava Zonfrillo has been living in the buzzing city of London, exploring the sights, working in PR, as well as spending time with her boyfriend’s family in Manchester.
The curious 24-year-old left Australia “wanting something more” and she’s built a life she loves – and one she knows would make her late dad, Jock, happy.
“I think he would be really proud,” Ava tells Woman’s Day.
“I always knew that I would live abroad at some point, and he did too – [he’d be] in full support.”
And everywhere she goes on her travels, she sees her beloved dad, whether it’s heading to the chef’s native Scotland or eating her way through his father’s home country, Italy.
“I was lucky enough to have travelled to both with Dad before,” Ava says. “Going back felt like he was there with me, in a really comforting way.”
Settling into a new country has been a welcome distraction for Ava, who has been making the most of every new opportunity at her disposal.
“Time goes so fast here, I’m finally starting to feel like I know my way around the city,” she says.
“Living abroad is the best, people are genuinely very open to making friends. Winter here really humbled me, but summer in London is magic!”
GRIEF ‘COMES IN WAVES’
No matter what she’s doing, though, the grief is always there, and almost two-and-a-half years after Jock’s sudden death at just 46, Ava’s still coming to terms with life without him.
“It comes in waves,” she says.
“Everyone processes differently and I think it’s more about allowing yourself the time and space to do it your way. For me, that meant leaving my full-time job to freelance and slow down a bit.
“We were in a unique position that it was public and hard to escape and I would often find myself playing things back over and over… sometimes you need that, but you also need to admit to yourself when it’s not serving you.”
Something that has helped Ava feel closer to her dad was pulling together his final cookbook, Recipes To Remember.
The MasterChef judge had started the project before he passed, and Ava and her younger siblings Alfie, seven, and Isla, four – “the little crew who sat on the kitchen stools, learning, chatting and eating with Dad” – finished it in his memory.
“Food has always been a connection point and a lot of our big family conversations have been in or near the kitchen. It’s a place we would naturally gravitate toward when dad was there.”
Understandably, sifting through Jock’s extensive food memories made his eldest daughter reflect on the things she learned from her foodie dad, and his standout meals, pea pasta with pancetta or good old bolognese.
“He only ever made things we liked, and most of the time we were either helping or watching him make it. I do remember Dad teaching me knife skills on a number of occasions,” Ava says, adding that “most things” food-related make her think of Jock.
“Anything that requires chopping, I guess. He really loved pork, so definitely anything with pork in it. And vinegar – big vinegar household. We used to have competitions for who could handle the biggest clump of vinegar powder without spitting it out!”
Alfie and Isla’s mum, Jock’s widow Lauren Zonfrillo, released her memoir Till Death Do Us Part last year, detailing her own journey of grief after losing him.
There’s no doubt his memory lives on in their children, and Ava, who has another younger sister, Sofia, from Jock’s past relationship, says they’ll all carry on the traditions that meant the most to him.
KEEPING JOCK’S LEGACY ALIVE
“Dad’s heritage was really important to him, and something he kept alive in our lives outside of food, too,” she says.
“Alfie wears [a kilt] for special occasions. We have so many family sayings and even a family whistle, which Dad would use everywhere. And Alfie and Isla are hot on pointing out if you’re not doing something the way Papa would!”
