Italian food has long been a favorite with British diners. When rationing ended after World War II, and people were again able to go out to restaurants to dine the easy, the relaxed atmosphere of an Italian trattoria went down well. One of the first notables to make his mark on this ‘new’ restaurant scene was a vegetarian: football-lover, hockey player and jazz enthusiast Peter Boizot, founder of the Pizza Express chain. Upset that he found it difficult to eat a vegetarian meal in British restaurants, he founded this mega-popular chain in 1965 (since sold off).
Pizza Express blazed the way
Pizza Express served different varieties of Pizza, with a few pasta dishes, so when other entrepreneurs wished to copy Boizot’s formula, they turned to pasta – then they couldn’t be accused of copying the original pizza formula. This was popular; pasta, like pizza, was cheap to make. But restaurateurs found the addition of flavorings to basic mixes could make these stretch to provide a varied menu, at little cost. Soon, lasagne, cannelloni, ravioli, tagliatelli and every other variety of pasta made its way onto the menu, and in the 70s to 90s, every town had a variety of inexpensive Italian restaurants – albeit many Luiguis and Enricos, supposedly the Italian proprietors with a heavy accent, were local boys made good. Gradually the restaurant scene split in to two – on one hand there were the Michelin-starred chefs, such as Ruth Rogers and her partner the late Rose Gray, co-founders of the River Café, and their pupil, Jamie Oliver. They and many other chefs were true to genuine principles of Italian cooking, hand-making basics on the premises every day. Then there were the middle-range restaurants, where it was too costly to have chefs hand-make pasta, so frozen produce became the norm. And in the latest money-making twist, many of these ‘Italian’ cafes are now providing breakfast – and offering an extraordinary mixture of Italian and British favorites: one chain offers a Breakfast Pizza special, topped by eggs and bacon.
Carluccio’s
Antonio Carluccio was another entrepreneur who founded a – now vast – empire of Italian caffes serving simple Italian pasta staples. Once, friends would suggest we meet at one of his restaurants, whenever we felt in need of an ‘Italian fix’. But then Carluccio sold out to a big chain, and things changed. Perhaps this should provide a warning that the ethos of a genuine Italian restaurant is to provide fast but tasty, hot food. We used to see Antonio Carluccio wandering around our local Carluccios – sadly we don’t see him any more. Perhaps because it always seems to be missing something; food is served lukewarm on cold plates, the menu may say it’s ‘fresh’, but it comes ready-made, and trendy designers have imported modern but uncomfortable chairs. So today we go to this restaurant for a cup of coffee, but when we want to ‘eat Italian’ in comfort we go elsewhere – denying the restaurant the higher turnover.
Chinese Restaurants
Another ethnic stream that invaded Britain was the Chinese restaurant, where their pasta, or noodles, provided the basics for many dishes. Britain is ideally placed to help immigrant chefs open ethnic restaurants. Starting with Huguenot refugees who came in from the 16th century from France, bringing with them the new French idea of eating out in a commercial kitchen, going through the huge influx of Chinese and then Italians during the 19th and 20th centuries. During the 19th century Britain had the world’s largest commercial cargo fleet, with many shipping lines, such as the Blue Funnel Line, hiring Chinese staff to serve on these ships. These Chinese eventually chose to settle in their ship’s home port, with Liverpool being the most popular, bringing over their families and starting up a restaurant. Hence today, Liverpool is noted for its Chinese restaurants – many still staffed by descendants from the original founders – and many Liverpudleans will go ‘out for a Chinese’ on a weekly basis. There are off-shoots in other parts of Britain, particularly London, but Liverpool remains the oldest and most ‘Chinese’-like community, and still serves authentic food – mostly from Hong Kong or Shangai, as these were the home-cities of the original sailors. The other major ethnic group that influenced the British restaurant scene were the Italians. Deserting their poverty-stricken country in the 1890s, many ended up in Glasgow (probably because there was a strong religious affinity with the immigrant Irish-Catholic community that already worked there). They first became noted for making and selling ice-cream, but gradually branched out into restaurants, particularly serving Italian staples such as pasta. Lord Forte was one of its stalwarts; he arrived when he was four years old, and stayed to found the massive Forte restaurant and hotel empire. There were many entrepreneurs in this Italian community, who gradually spread out around Britain. During World War II they had a set-back, as the British Government deemed them ‘aliens’, but after the war Britain wanted tasty but inexpensive restaurant meals – and the usual French-based cuisine with its emphasis on expensive meats and cream sauces was too expensive.
Surgital
The company makes more than 300 varieties of fresh egg pasta, many especially developed for the wholesale and restaurant trade. Innovative as a company, they are credited with developing many special pastas, such as heart-shaped pasta for the Valentine season; currently new on the block is fish-filled pasta – such as salmon and dill in a red (tomato) pasta. Selling in over 60 countries, in the UK restaurant groups find filled pasta (containing pumpkin, mozzarella, etc) and cannelloni, popular. Good sellers are also lasagne sheets, and the black pasta made with squid ink: customers choose this in restaurants as they are unlikely to make this at home – and chefs like it as it doesn’t bleed into the water. Surgital are proud of their ‘green’ credentials, having their own energy plant in their Italian factory which saves over 300 tons CO2 each month. Also, to ensure correct conditions, there are different temperatures in each room. The Surgital website has a very useful tool – clients can click on a window that says ‘calculate the cost’, and this gives the cost according to the weight of each portion. They also have a window where chefs and proprietors can click through to chat to a Surgital expert.
American openess
It is in the States where the wholesale pasta market is more in evidence, with many firms set up supplying pasta to restaurants. One of these is Severino, who for the past four decades have supplied Philadelphia’s restaurants with “authentic, artisanal pasta hand made with freshest ingredients”. Starting in 1970, Joseph and Maria Severino commenced making 100% Semolina flour pasta to supply the top restaurants in the Philadelphia area – plus their signature sauces. This production line has many varieties, both of fresh and dried pasta, with even a comprehensive book showing a vast range of styles and flavors. Their Private Label range supplies staples such as Lasagne or Cannelloni in 2 or 2.5 kilo packs. They also offer frozen sauces in pellet form, including the ever-popular tomato and basil, Arrabbiata, Ragu all Bolognese, Amatriciana, Carbonara and Cacio and Pepe. The pellets are frozen using IQF technique, weigh 6 – 8 grams each, and come in bags of 300, 500 and one kilo.