GWILT o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-01-02 published
'There was always singing in the house'
By Alwynne
GWILT,
Staff
Reporter
When Pasquale
CARPINO began to cook, two things were bound to
happen: good food would sizzle and he'd break out into opera.
Fans of his Italian cooking shows, which have aired around the
world since the mid-1970s, will always remember
CARPINO as the
Singing Chef in his double-breasted, bright blue smock.
"If I sing when I cook, the food is going to be happy,"
CARPINO
once said.
Pasquale passed away on Friday of complications from surgery.
He was 69.
"I think people in Canada can reproduce Italian food now thanks
to him," said Mary
McGRATH, former food columnist for the Star.
"At one time I can remember we had Chef Boyardee at home and
then we caught on a little bit to spaghetti and lasagna. I think
he really contributed to that movement."
Mixing music and munchies made audiences realize cooking could
be relaxing, long before the dime-a-dozen cooking shows of today,
McGRATH added.
"His singing... was really quite pleasant, it made him approachable
and he came across as a very happy person,"
McGRATH said. "(He
showed that) food was really a wonderful thing and that cooking
for your family and Friends can be pleasant."
Pasquale came up with the names of most of his recipes, many
based on opera characters, composers and singers.
By using ordinary ingredients, viewers with little time felt
comfortable recreating his recipes.
To family members, his life on television was no different than
life at home.
"The show was just Dad, nothing was made up, nothing was done
for television. It was just Dad all the time," said Beatrice,
his oldest daughter. "He was always full of life; what you saw
on television, that was him."
Pasquale once said he introduced his singing and style to keep
Beatrice interested in her Italian heritage and language.
"She was in kindergarten and she was losing her Italian because
she was in school," he told the Hamilton Spectator in 1999.
"I didn't want to force her to speak Italian. Then the idea came
to sing and be colourful because children like colour."
It worked, not only on Beatrice but his other daughter, Lisa.
His life was full of accomplishments since he emigrated from
Italy in 1958. Arriving with only a few dollars in his pocket,
he started out as a dishwasher at a Toronto restaurant.
"When you came to a strange country you have to do anything you
can," said Evelina, Pasquale's wife.
But dishwashing paid off as he quickly moved up the ranks to
chef and soon after, saucier. A job at Toronto's Waldorf Astoria
followed. Simultaneously, he studied opera at the Royal Conservatory
of Music in Toronto.
"(Music) was his first love but sometimes you can't make a living
with love," Evelina said. "He loved to sing but cooking gave
him an opportunity to make a living."
The two sweethearts met in 1964.
She was also a singer -- a soprano to his tenor -- and Pasquale
happened to ask her brother if he knew any sopranos for an upcoming
concert.
"We met by music," said Evelina wistfully. "He was a very kind
gentlemen."
The couple had two children -- Beatrice in 1968 and Lisa in 1973
and Pasquale moved on to cooking on television.
Growing up in a house of food, music and love has made Beatrice
appreciative.
"As a child you don't really think about it but now I am so grateful
to have been brought up that way," she said.
"I like to cook now as it's been passed on just from being around
it; he was always trying new things and we were the guinea pigs,
" Beatrice said. "Music is there, and I couldn't picture my life
without it. There was always singing in the house. It was a wonderful
environment to grow up in."
For Beatrice, this meant a loving family life growing up and
a confidant when she was older.
"There were a lot of hugs, a lot of kisses and we were able to
talk as Friends," she said.
"My dad was my dad but he was one of my Friends, and he always
encouraged me to go after any dreams I had; no matter what I
did he always said, 'You go after it,' and that showed how loving
and caring he was."
Evelina said he would want to be remembered as an honest man
and a family man, not only as the legendary operatic chef.
"He loved children and family and for people to be together,"
she said.
CARPINO is survived by his wife of 39 years; his two daughters
his brothers Giovanni, Carmine and Mario; and his sisters Anna
and Carmine.
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