Opinion | The origin of tiramisu and doing business in China

By Augustus K. Yeung

Introduction

Some years ago, on my birthday our daughter who (was graduating that year from the university) gave me an unforgettable gift or two: one was tiramisu and the other a book, The POST AMERICAN WORLD. We happily ate the first gift, an Italian piece of cake, but I kept the second as "food for thought", which continues to be relevant till this day--when in 2021, America's fate in Afghanistan was sealed just as the book had predicted.

Following the advice of Francis Bacon—a great British scholar and administrator--I read the book. I "chewed" and "digested" it. Today, it remains a bed side companion, reminding me of the fall of the United States, an imperialist. But, more importantly, it celebrates the concomitant meteoric rise of China, the motherland.

Enticing as it may be, tiramisu is an embodiment of exquisite Italian culture whose significance and legendary story of origin was never known to me until today; I read it. And sat down to celebrate this legendary Italian delicacy. ("Obituary 'Father of tiramisu' whose dessert went global." Financial Times, November 7, 2021.)

The Tale that Defines the Inventor's Career

"Although the Italian restaurateur Ado Campeol, who has died aged 93, became known as 'the father of tiramisu', he had his wife and his head chef to thank for the accolade." Ed Cumming, the FT reporter retold the story passionately.

The tale, which would come to "define Ado Campeol's career", began on Christmas Eve in 1969 in the kitchen of his restaurant, Le Beccherie, in the city of Treviso, just north of Venice, Italy.

Head chef Robert was making ice cream. When some mascarpone fell into the egg yolk and sugar, he carried on whipping, and was pleased by the results.

Campeol's Wife Turned it Into Something Valuable

Sampling the creamy, foamy new mixture, Campeol's wife Alba, saw the possibility of turning it into something of great value.

After three years of trial and improvement, the new dessert finally appeared on Beccherie's menu in 1972 as "tiramisu" or "pick me up," having aphrodisiac connotations.

As with all great inventions, the concoction, comprising layers of coffee-flavoured sponge and cream, covered with a dusting of cocoa powder, had "immediate staying power" – the original recipe contained no alcohol.

Before long, the dessert was being imitated around the world. Today it is "a staple of Italian restaurants" everywhere.

Another Legend had it that Tiramisu was Invented for a Duke

Unfortunately, Campeol and his wife never patented their recipe. Other chefs claimed to have got there first. A Sienese legend had it that the dish was invented at the end of the 17th century for a duke.

Some claimed the dessert was invented in a Treviso brothel, with "pick me up" having aphrodisiac connotations.

But from the margarita pizza, allegedly created for a visiting queen, to the negroni, invented for a count who wanted a punchier Americano, "Italian culinary legend has never let the facts obstruct a decent origin story."

In the public imagination, at least, the tale of the happy incident in Le Beccherie's kitchen stuck.

Campeol Would Gladly Tell His Customers the Story

Ado Campeol was born in 1927 in Treviso, in the Veneto region of north-eastern Italy. When he was 12, his father, Carlo opened Le Beccherie in the Piazza Ancilotto in the centre of town. The teenage Ado was soon immersed in the business and took over the restaurant when Carlo died in 1946, just after World War II. His mother was in charge of the kitchen.

Le Beccherie was a family business through and through. Soon after Campeol married Alba di Pillo in 1954, he sent her away to Venice to learn catering. By 1958, she was ready to take over from Antoinetta in the kitchen. The couple's son, Carlo, born in 1955, took over the restaurant in the 1990s and in 2013 the family handed over management, but continue to own the premises.

From the 1970s until he stopped working front of house in the 1990s, Campeol would gladly tell his customers the story of his dessert that took over the world while Alba would say she had been inspired by the sbatudin her mother-in-law fed her while she was breastfeeding.

Word of Le Beccherie's New Dessert Spread Quickly

Word of Le Beccherie's new dessert spread more quickly after 1981, when it was the subject of an article by Giuseppe Maffoli, a food writer who specialize in Venetian cuisine. He wrote that tiramisu was already becoming popular around the country and advised accompanying it with a glass of sweet vino santo.

By the 1990s, tiramisu had swept across the US and further afield. It was briefly a phenomenon in Japan, where tiramisu-flavoured drinks were produced. Versions were available on the menus in Burger King and KFC.

The desert received another boost in 1993 when it was mentioned in Tom Hanks film Sleepless in Seattle as a surefire way to woo women.

The Governor of Veneto Got the Recipe Protected

Chefs, meanwhile, added their own spins to it, to such an extent that in 2013 the governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, sought to get the recipe protected through EU certification.

Today there is a tiramisu world cup with hundreds of different versions.

While proud of his globetrotting invention, Campeol himself never seemed troubled by variations on the recipe. Working with the local tourist board, he helped make tiramisu part of the Veneto experience.

For him, as for millions of his happy diners, it was perfect just the way it had emerged from Le Beccherie's kitchen in 1972. Was their tiramisu any good? "The proof was in the pudding."

Conclusion

This is the epic story of tiramisu, which was given birth by an Italian family through the efforts of three generations, with a history of nearly a hundred years, same as some of the Chinese shops or food recipes.

Tiramisu, like Chinese dim sum, works its way quietly into the guts of its diners from different cultural backgrounds, playing the role of a de facto cultural ambassador, doing diplomatic work, connecting people from all parts of the world, and promoting mutual understanding.

Before the liberalization of the Cassinos in Macao, the city was an unglamorous backyard which unexpectedly played an important role, accommodating Chinese refugees and foreigners when China was at war with Japan (1939 – 1945). There was then no sign of tiramisu in this former Portuguese enclave, not to mention savouring the world-famous Italian cuisine.

Until the American cassino tycoons marched into Macau as was planned and pushed by China's central government, the American businessmen and -women have now become true global citizens, doing China trade or lucrative business based in Macao, (China' Special Administrative Region).

And there is now sustainable, deep-seated, cultural exchange, coupled with unlimited financial and employment opportunities. Why then would Americans like Trump and his troopers want to bash Beijing, kill the golden geese and seek decoupling with China? American friends, enlighten me if you may.

The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.

 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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