Where did David Rosengarten’s quest to find America’s greatest importers of Italian food lead him? To the Bronx, naturally: “Last week Beatrice invited me, along with members of my team, to a tour and lunch at her office/warehouse [Gustiamo] in the South Bronx, a humble urban brick pile in a now-improving neighborhood… Sure, there are many American importers of tomatoes, olive oil, pasta, etc…but only a few bring an artisan’s eye to it, only a few base their choices on connoisseurship, only a few see their imports as part of a much larger pattern congruing towards a better food world for everyone.”
What a pleasure to host David and his team! Together we ate, laughed, and got angry talking about “Italian Sounding” food problems in the USA: “… Beatrice’s battle on this front goes beyond the borders of the U.S…and all the way back to Italy. ‘This is one of our biggest problems in the global growth of Italian food,’ she says. ‘There is shocking fraud today in food production in Italy. If producers start turning towards fake products—not to mention products that are not made in a responsible, sustainable way—we will soon sacrifice our precious Italian food culture.’ “
Grazie Davide! We loved talking about sustainability, transparency, and artisanship with you; but more importantly, we hope that the ultimate takeaway for you and your team was that “Italians are cool!” Who could be cooler than us?!
We cannot wait for the #1 issue of the re-born Rosengarten Report, to be released on Dec. 15, 2014! Here’s the link to David’s full report from his day at Gustiamo.