Nesler Cibo Vivo
From the heart of Italy
Before founding the production company, Carlo was already active in training. After teaching for a few years enthusiasts and cooks how to ferment on their own, he decided to set up a professional workshop dedicated to alternative food fermentations, both as a place for training and experimentation and for production.
Thus, a small farm was born in 2016 under the name CibOfficina Microbiotica di Carlo Nesler. Right from the beginning, it started producing a wide range of fermented foods such as miso, fermented vegetables, kimchi, kombucha and shoyu (soy-free soy-sauce). At the end of 2019, Paolo Casadio joined in the administration of the company, which became known simply as “Nesler”.
From the outset, the company's mission has been multifaceted:
- to spread the culture of good, healthy food;
- to share knowledge about fermentation through training;
- to support the creation of other companies focused on alternative fermentations;
- to carry out experimentation and research;
- to produce excellent, unpasteurized fermented foods;
- to combine traditional and scientific knowledge with creativity and local raw materials;
- to avoid food waste (on the production side).
This approach has made Nesler benchmark for alternative fermentation and koji-based condiments in Italy and beyond.
Many enthusiasts and curious individuals, as well as many great chefs and young cooks eager to learn seriously, have attended our courses or sought Carlo's advice on starting fermented food production. Many chefs have discovered Nesler Cibo Vivo products in their search for excellence and have become regular users and loyal customers. Many cooking enthusiasts, health-conscious individuals, and simply food lovers also appreciate Nesler's unique condiments.
The advantage of millennia-old traditional knowledge combined with local row materials of extraordinary high quality has allowed us to develop very special methods and formulations that give life to condiments with a strong and recognizable personality.
By now we may say already that Nesler condiments are characteristic of Tuscia, not at all imitations of products other countries products. Not to mention the original products developed, for example, from the research to eliminate waste, such as UmOri.
Over the years, we have had to decide to focus on certain products, reducing the variety. The choice was to specialize in koji-based condiments.
Since 2023, we have also been producing extra virgin olive oil, having purchased land in Canino, also in the province of Viterbo.
It is on this land that the Nuova CibOfficina stands, our new production facility built using green building techniques in 2025.
The Nesler tradition of artisanal, careful production continues, with maturation mainly in wooden barrels for sauces and in wood or stoneware for miso. On our fields in Canino, we grow cereals and legumes among the olive trees, trying to maintain biodiversity as much as possible, even of wild plants.
The raw materials we use are produced on the farm or purchased locally from trusted farmers, who cultivate the land conscientiously. We are able to streamline production while maintaining the same attention and care.
From the outset, we have practiced organic farming, without initially burdening ourselves with the entire process of certifying individual products. However, a few years ago, we applied for organic certification on the labels of all our main products. Sometimes small batches and special productions are excluded, for which we do not consider it useful to apply for certification.
Our company has become a cultural hub dedicated to authentic foods and ancient food processing techniques, with a particular focus on fermentation and its contemporary evolution. We are committed to maintaining and expanding this role.
Thanks to the work of Carlo Nesler, the company's founder, who continues to combine the production of fermented foods with his work as a trainer and educator, we enjoy the friendship and collaboration of many chefs and enthusiasts who, in addition to using our products, also ferment foods themselves.
In fact, there are many chefs who have trained with Carlo and maintain an active exchange on topics related to fermentation: in this way, our company is constantly enriched; our friends are much more than customers! We also ferment in a metaphorical sense, to quote the recent text by Sandor Katz, which is always a great inspiration.
Promoting a culture of fermented food and nutrition by spreading information about food fermentation is one of the main goals that motivated us to create our small company. Our pioneering work has already been rewarded with many satisfactions, but we hope this is only the beginning.
Our products are currently sold in Italy, various European countries, and Japan, both through our website and in specialty stores. They are used by haute cuisine chefs as well as those who simply love to eat well or care about their health and the environment.
Here you can see some of the restaurants and stores we collaborate with, perhaps even near you.
The products
Soy-free soy sauce, Italian miso, and other Nesler Cibo Vivo fermented condiments are created by transforming excellent local raw materials using ancient methods, filtered through modern knowledge and experience, to create gourmet dishes that can be enjoyed every day. They taste good and make you feel good.
Culinary experimentation and the continuous refinement of fermentation processes allow us to offer completely new gastronomic creations, together with traditional fermented foods revisited in a local and contemporary key: in this way, all the gustatory and microbiological advantages of fermented, unpasteurized foods are granted.
Soy-free soy sauces, Italian miso, Sale di Nocchia, UmOri, FLIS, and various other delicacies, not to mention our excellent Extra Virgin Olive Oil! Nesler Cibo Vivo products are not just condiments, but live fermented foods that can transform food in a sublime way. They are created from the transformation of excellent raw materials using ancient methods, filtered through modern knowledge and experience, easy to use every day, delicious, and good for you.
About fermented foods
Life nourishing life
“At a time where for many the only way to deal with difficulties seems to be extermination and desertification, hence the sterilisation (to kill microbes), spontaneous plants are systematically eliminated (through weeding) and poisons are spread indiscriminately (disinfection in agricultural and civil fields). it is vital to recover and update the ancient tradition of fermenting food.”
Since time immemorial man has made use of the activity of microorganisms to make many foods healthier and more preservable. Bread, wine, cold cuts, cheese, vinegar, yogurt, kefir, kombucha, miso, soy sauce, kimchi, sauerkraut, beer etc.
In many households the ancient ritual of fermenting seasonal products to consume them at other times of the year is long lost, but today there is a slow comeback of these ancient practices. Many of these foods are important probiotics, as they can enrich our microbiota, that is, our symbiotic community of microbes. Many of those are in fact microbes that, living in symbiosis with our organism, allow us to live in a healthy way.
Although the versatility of fermentations in the kitchen is unparalleled, there often can be difficulties in managing microbial activity. Especially today. The risks of improvised food storage should never be underestimated, even though with proper preparation many methods can be extremely simple.
Nesler offers the opportunity to purchase genuine and safe Live Foods.
Carlo Nesler also offers training and consulting for culinary professionals, as well as courses on making your own fermented foods for everyone.
To find out more, visit the curses sectioni or write to corsi@carlonesler.it.
“Eating means giving way to the organism to live. It is not only an energy contribution in the strict sense, but a relationship with the life around us, with our world.”
Carlo Nesler
Born and raised in Bolzano, Carlo Nesler was interested in cooking and fermented foods from a young age. At first he devoted himself to beer, wine, spirits, sauerkraut, and yogurt, and then became passionate about theatre. He graduated from DAMS in Bologna and for several years he worked in theatre in various roles. He switched between other jobs ranging from the catering sector to construction, as well as teaching, the wine sector, translation, carpentry and some other experiences. He nonetheless always pursued his passion for cooking and fermentation, researching and experimenting in his free time.
He came acrosspermaculture taking a Permaculture Design Course with Saviana Parodi and, encouraged by her, he decided to resume his studies of fermentation and share his experiences and knowledge with others.
Since then, he has held workshops on fermented foods in various parts of Italy and abroad. He collaborates with leading chefs such as Norbert Niederkofler, Oliver Piras, Mauro Ricciardi, Davide Del Duca, and others, both in training projects on fermented foods and as a consultant. He is the Italian translator of Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation, an essential text for anyone interested in the subject (Il mondo della fermentazione, published by Slow Food).
In 2016, he founded CibOfficina (now Nesler Cibo Vivo) in Viterbo, a production, training, and experimentation center focused on fermentation and natural agriculture.
“I think it’s important to regain a conscious relationship with what we eat.”
Paolo Casadio
A lover of quality food that has always collaborated with the third sector, mainly in Fair Trade; in 1997, he founded and became president of the social cooperative “Tenda dei Popoli” in Ostia Lido and is part of the Roma Equa e Solidale coordination. He practices Shiatsu and Yoga and, since 2005, has been teaching and organizing Kundalini Yoga seminars.
Since 2018, he has been a partner of Nesler Cibo Vivo and collaborates with Carlo Nesler in spreading the culture of fermented, healthy, ethical, and above all, delicious food!
In 2024, he and Carlo purchased a small farm between Canino and the sea, which immediately began producing olive oil and organic cereals, and in 2025 became the site of Nuova CibOfficina!
