THE CORNISH ITALIAN

Cornish The

ITALIAN

WORDS BY LUCY STUDLEY

CUISINE

Born in Italy, made in Cornwall; a Cornish market stall and a three-wheel van grows to a thriving, UK-wide food business.

When 27 year old Ugo Massabo lost his job, he didn’t know which way to turn. fter studying for his degree in Marketing and Management for Performing rts in taly, and off the bac of roducing six successful shows across Italy, he had come to Cornwall to ursue a career in the theatre. But, in 2018 he was suddenly made redundant and left with a huge dilemma; should he return to Italy and search for a new osition, or embark on a totally different life ath was ha ily settled in beautiful Cornwall – a truly ins iring art of the world – and I sim ly wasn t ready to leave, e lains go, whose assion and e uberance is almost stereoty ically talian. here were no other obs in theatrical roduction in ornwall, so faced the ros ect of returning home with a sense of failure and un nished business. decided that wasn t going to ha en. he story of what go did ne t starts many years before in his childhood, which was s lit between m eria ust east of the rench border and the rinci ality of onaco and ilan. grew u as art of a large, food centric family, he e lains. often oined my father iero to ma e tiramisu as an a r s s i treat after a long day on the slo es. his family reci e became the stuff of legend. he lighter than air tiramisu was assed as a gift between family and friends, and was always resent at times of celebration.

When Ugo moved to Cornwall he continued to make tiramisu for his friends here, using this sim le ritual as a way of conveying his cultural and familial heritage. Ugo recalls that this led to many conversations about childhood e eriences, family reci es and food traditions, and about how so many of our formative memories are connected to food. hrough the ma ing and sharing of this reci e, new friendshi s were

INSET RIGHT ade with love to a family reci e

TOP ruro armer s ar et ABOVE Ugo’s quirky delivery van

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forged including with his future wife and eo le started to get this fervent talian when he tal ed about sim le leasures ma ing for rich moments in life.

o, when facing that big life decision ost redundancy, Ugo asked himself what else he was assionate about other than the theatre – and the answer didn’t take long to materialise. e recalls al ing to my artner about everything that goes into roducing a theatrical s ectacle, we fl i ed the situation on its head and asked ourselves what else I could do using all those s ills, and that assion for storytelling and rovo ing emotion. he sha e of an idea slowly formed, and it ust felt right from the beginning.”

o, iramis was born. idening the friends and family orbit, Ugo began making artisan tiramisu in environmentally friendly glass ars, using his father s reci e and combining the nest ingredients of both his country of birth and ado tive home. e sold these little ars of heaven to local farm sho s and delis, and too a regular stall at ruro armer s ar et.

he mar et is really im ortant to me, e lains go, who ma es time to attend as oft en as ossible, des ite the fact that he is now busy with national deliveries and London stoc ists. n taly the mar et is the heart of every town – where the social fabric of our lives is woven together. I get the same buzz from my stall at ruro armer s ar et it feels li e a family. eeting customers face to face is go s e ression valve. is enthusiasm and warmth is an intrinsic art of his roduct and business. ou can try and tell your story on a website or in your branding, but it never has uite the same im act as getting out there and meeting eo le face to face, he says. o me, there s nothing better than smiling at someone as they try a s oonful of your delicious tiramisu!” iramisu is one of those magical things that is very sim le to re are but hard to erfect. Like many traditional Italian creations, it uses a small number of ingredients but they need to be to uality. or go, the foundation of this is the freshest asteurised eggs from t we which is literally around the corner from his roduction itchen so there s ero food miles involved. his freshness and uality means that the roduct doesn t re uire additives or reservatives and ee s naturally in the fridge for ten lus days. he nest talian mascar one and coff ee ma e this delicious dessert the erfect combination of ornwall and Italy. Ugo now makes versions with chocolate and rum, and has ada ted the reci e for vegan and gluten free customers.

o, come 2 1 , iramis was established as one of the great success stories of ornwall s thriving food industry an award winning roduct which is now stoc ed at such illustrious food destinations as Panzer’s eli in ondon, one of the ca ital s most famous and best loved food em oriums. nd then the second big career de ning moment came for go the arrival of ovid 1 . hings were tic ing along nicely, and then all of the live events – festivals, theatrical roductions, food events we lanned to attend were cancelled, the market was

LEFT & ABOVE ishes ins ired by amma aniela

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disrupted, and many of our stockists were forced to close,” Ugo recalls. “It was a scary time and at one oint we had about 1, left in the bank. We had to diversify quickly or face losing everything.”

go identi ed a ga in the mar et for high quality meal boxes delivered to homes, and so called on his mother – Mamma Daniela – to lend a helping hand. The Cornish Italian launched in arch 2 2 , ust wee s after the rst national loc down was introduced, and focused on delicious pasta dishes based on Ugo’s family recipes and made using fabulous Cornish ingredients. Ugo is now sending authentic Italian meals ready to warm through and devour always nishing with tiramisu of course – delivered to doors across the UK. Not only did he successfully pivot his whole business, go built on his flagshi roduct to create something with wide appeal, and which has the potential to grow exponentially.

All the popular Italian classics are available, from Spaghetti alla Bolognese to Pasta al Pesto, Ravioli with Ricotta and Spinach to Mamma Daniela’s signature Lasagne. New dishes and seasonal specials are introduced all the time, and this is where Ugo really goes to town. A decadent new dish – Tortelloni with creamy Italian Burrata cheese and Black ru es from mbria has been an instant hit. A summer favourite, Lobster, Crab and Prawn avioli, ma es great use of ornish shell sh, while during asparagus season Ugo ran two special dishes showcasing the annual Cornish crop from his neighbours at Tregassow Farm. “Being based in Cornwall we have access to so many amazing ingredients. Cornish beef from Treway Farm, award-winning Cornish Gouda, local milk from Trink Dairy, Cornish butter, and of course St Ewe Eggs – our partners in making criminally good desserts,” says Ugo. “In a nutshell, we combine the best of Cornish and Italian ingredients, shaping these into delicious Italian dishes using our authentic family recipes. Everything is handmade and freshly re ared. side from these ma or selling points, Ugo’s great strength is that he really understands his customers. “Our customers know what good food is, and how it makes them feel,” he explains. “The people who buy from us love to visit their local market and deli, seek out great local produce, care about provenance and sustainability, and are always trying new dishes from their huge collection of recipe books. But, they simply don’t have time to cook great food from scratch all the time – who does?”

With the launch of The Cornish Italian, Ugo has once again seized triumph from the aws of disaster, and his honest, lovingly re ared food can now be en oyed around family kitchen tables across the country. Just like Italian food, the recipe for success has involved simple ingredients, combined with oy and evo ing a life well lived. adly, go s father Piero passed away before he could witness his son’s triumph, but there’s no doubt he would be immensely proud of what has been achieved – all starting with that one legendary dessert. Through that recipe, he is still very much a part of Ugo’s life every day.

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MADE IN CORNWALL – FOR OVER 30 YEARS