You wanna act Canadian? Why? You’re Calabrian already – be proud of it
TORONTO – So much for the much debatable merits of Inclusion. Integration, yes [let’s see what you have], assimilation [become something else] not so much. One has to simply look at the StatsCan figures extrapolated from the last completed census in 2021, to note the undeniable resistance of the inner spirit of the “this is who I am” identity of a people who identify with a history and experiences spanning four thousand years at a minimum.
Those figures point to circa 110,000 residents in the Greater Toronto Area identified as Calabresi (roughly 12.5% of the 1,400,000 Italians Canadians) in Canada. No moss gathers in the areas where they travel. Even here in the economic dynamo that is Canada’s economic and cultural hub. Some can point with pride and justification that the GTA may be what it has become, due, in part, to their input.
Chef Luciano Schipano, President of Heritage Calabria, and host of Friday’s Gala, refuses to rest his personal and collective laurels on the accomplishments of the past. “They would have served nothing if we abandoned them or if we refused take inspiration from them,” he said, “we need to celebrate them and promote the next generation in all endeavours where we hope to guide our youth.”
Luciano is fastidious about food preparation, as one can imagine from one who operates and guides several catering services and restaurants. The genius of Calabrian culinary practices and achievements is seen in both the diversity and quality of our product, he states – even to an Italian like me who still remembers [my] grandmother’s, mother’s and wife’s distinctive flairs over the cooking. I could sense a retort that he had too much class to utter: “theirs it may be better than the rest, but it was not Calabrian”.
The presence of internet cooking celebrity, Nonna Rita (she has a very popular Instagram profile: here), was an exclamation mark on his affirmation, and she chose to dance with him to the “Calabrese National Anthem,” Calabrisella Mia … Kudos to Luciano. He captured one of the essential qualities of the culture, a regard for womanhood that can only increase with maturity. It guides, social mores, family bonds, strengthens governance structures and provides standards against which all individuals are measured. Nonna Rita was surrounded by other women who came close to venerating her presence.
Chef Schipano struck the theme of the event as one embodying style and substance capable of outlasting the tests of time. It was/is one that values innovation, combining business institutions and private sectors to promote those qualities through education (ItaliaLinguaCultura, Italian government – via the Consul General and his wife – the YCDSB, and businesses represented by organizations like ICCO and ICFF).
It augured well that the event succeeded in garnering the approval and enjoyment of two ladies who were not Calabrese: the Chair of the YCDSB, Maria Iafrate and Lady Kristina Zubayulaeva, wife of the Consul General.
Well done Luciano.
Here below is a photogallery from the event (photos: Corriere Canadese)
