L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano N early all travelers to Italy have been expos ed to that shop-worn cliché: "hidden Italy." Well, let me breathe some life back into that cliché. I am going to write about Italy hidden, but here in Orange County, right under our nos es , in S an Clemente. This is a piece, or should I say scoop, of Italy that is so far off the beaten track, your gps won't even find it. But first let me begin with what careful readers of L'Italo- Americano already know: Rita Cipalla's informative article in the July 27, 2018 issue of L'Ita- lo-Americano about the Queen of Italian Gelato in King County, Seattle, Maria Coassin. As Rita explained in her article, for more than twenty years Maria has been the owner operator of Gela- tiamo, an Italian gelato shop in downtown Seattle. Maria was born in Maniago, a small town in the Friuli Venezia region. As she explained to me over lunch the other day, she comes from a long line, about two hundred years, of bakers in her family. Wanting to reinvent herself, yet honor her family's ancient heritage, she decided to bring authentic Italian gelato to Seattle. But as I learned only a few weeks ago from a friend of mine, her influence and her artisan Italian skills are now extending far beyond the Pacific Northwest to a hidden enclave in San Clemente where I live. For the last ten years, Maria has been traveling to San Clemente to Equipment & Con- cepts, owned and operated by the charming and resourceful "part- nership" of Tom and Colleen Graves. For the last twenty years the Graves have been importing Bravo gelato machines from Italy. Included in his inventory are other very high tech KEN SCAMBRAY lions of Italians who came to America before 1945.Back then, immigrants brought a plethora of occupational backgrounds to America, from chefs, vintners, masons, farmers, and shoe mak- ers to doctors and lawyers, den- tists, notaries, musicians, univer- sity professors, and prelates, who established some of Ameri- ca's greatest universities. From the Great migration, beginning in the 1870s to the present, all Italian immigrants have influ- enced the content of American culture, especially the American diet. Italian farmers introduced vegetables never before grown in America. Is there a menu in American restaurants without a pasta dish? Those high-end restaurants all feature wood burning ovens, which before 1945 once dotted the western landscape wherever Italian immigrants settled. With her gelato business, Maria is an extension of Italian immigrant tradition, especially the Italian culinary products introduced into the American diet. You may wear or even drive an Italian brand, but nothing is closer to the soul of Italian culture than its coffee and food. Maria and the Graves have brought an authen- tic scoop of Italian culture to the Big Orange. machines, one designed by an Italian engineer that makes not only gelato, but a variety of cus- tards and creams for pastries and other desserts. Just push the appropriate button, and it does the rest. But there is far more to the gelato process than a digital machine. Tom informed me that about ten years ago, he and Colleen attended a trade show in Italy and fortuitously met Maria. What developed after their chance meeting is no accident. Ever since, Maria has been trav- eling south to the Graves' loca- tion, where she brings that very special scoop of Italian culture to San Clemente. She holds two- day seminars on how to make authentic Italian gelato for those hopefuls who want to open a shop. When Tom and Maria met that day in Italy, they hit it off immediately. They soon discov- ered that they shared a passion for honoring Italian culture through the creation of an authentic Italian gelato. Tom even admitted to me that, well, at times, he and Maria have dis- agreed on certain procedures. But these short-term disagree- ments were only born of the pas- sion to do it right. This passion was evident dur- ing the first week in December when Tom invited me to his and Colleen's Equipment & Con- cepts location to sit in on one of Maria's seminars for a class of about a dozen enthusiastic and hopeful gelato entrepreneurs. He said that there would be much sampling and that I might even be able to take some gelato home. How could I resist? I must add that Francesca Sartori, the v.p. for the distribution of Bravo gelato machines in North America, and Petra Cornelius, Operations Manager for Gelato Paradiso, San Diego, Laguna Beach, and Newport Beach, were also there. Petra's Gelato Paradiso began years ago thanks to two Sicilians and she is now sole owner of the business, which has grown region-wide with four locations in fewer than ten years. When I walked into Equip- ment & Concepts I found a com- pletely equipped gelato-making enterprise, from the gelato machines, flash freezers, display cases, to all the other accou- trements needed. I had to remind myself that I was not in Italy. But equipment and high tech machines are only the end of the process, not the beginning. This is where Maria's long years of experience enter into the process. When I arrived, Maria was holding forth before a class of eager listeners. I was envious: students in my literature classes never listen to my lectures with such rapt attention. She covered ingredients and the care that goes into making an authentic gelato, not just a rough imitation of the original. The basis of the ingredients was all around me. I was surrounded by bowls of fresh lemons, pears, and man- darins. What makes a good gela- to is basic to all authentic Italian cooking: fresh, seasonal ingredi- ents. Although as I learned, Maria does have secrets of the trade not to be revealed outside her seminar. As I watched, with Maria's guidance, her students began making gelato before my eyes: from Aperol and pumpkin to stracciatella and zabaglione. This was among my toughest writing assignments: how could I presume to write about Maria's instruction and her students' pro- duction without copious help- ings of the gelato? As an afi- cionado of the real thing in Italy, I had to admit that Maria and the Graves' passion has paid off. But there is more here than just gelato. Mari's artisan skill also connects her to those mil- Maria and Student making Gelato ORANGE COUNTY ITALIAN COMMUNITY A scoop of Italy hidden in Orange County's San Clemente

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