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Jan 15,2006 - Jan 22,2006 |
22 - The genuine taste of Italy at home
With his Molisana Import Pasquale Di Biase has brought Italian food products to Canada
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2002-12-22
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Pat Di Biase with Italian Senator Antonio Di Pietro
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In Portugal, in the Seventies, a "carnation revolution" was held against Salazar's dictatorship; 15 years later in Czechoslovakia the "velvet revolution" broke out against the soviet regime.
The "spaghetti revolution", which started half a century ago all around the world, fights against the lack of imagination in the kitchen. Lately, olive oil has won over other kinds of fats and the Mediterranean diet has prevailed over any other type of cooking style.
Italy is the headquarters of an army whose goal is to bring Italian cuisine around the world. It's an army made of excellent cooks and resourceful importers who, starting from the 70s and 80s, have decided to bring Italian products into stores worldwide.
During his 42 years spent in Canada, Pasquale Di Biase, president of Molisana Import - originally from Vinchiaturo, in the province of Campobasso, Molise - made a relevant contribution to the "spaghetti revolution". Today, in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton eating Italian food has become an every-day routine.
Canadian stores sell all sorts of Italian products from orecchiette, a specialty from Bari, to the Genoa pesto, Prosciutto di Parma, Grana Padano, Calabrian taralli and, above all olive oil, which lately is selling more than butter and margarine. Pasta, however, remains the bestseller of the Italian products. Even if five years ago Canadian laws tried unsuccessfully to prohibit its import, now Italian-made spaghetti, fettuccine and tagliatelle have crushed all Canadian competitors.
Pasquale Di Biase is aware of his important contribution as an importer of Italian foods. According to him, his success is largely connected with his lifetime fixation: going back to Italy.
"My father Francesco and I always talked about going back to Molise, but when we realized that this wasn't possible anymore we decided to bring Italy to Canada. That's all."
Francesco Di Biase lived his entire life modestly and was extraordinarily attached to his children.
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