Monday, November 1, 2021

Much Ado about much a didn't...

Hey, guess who died? Go on, guess. Right. The answer is obviously lots of people, but specifically I'm talking about Ado Campeol, the guy who didn't invent tiramisu. 
Above: Ado Campeol (right) seen here not inventing tiramisu.
Pictured: Bananas Foster, which
Ado also didn't invent.
Yeah, you heard me. When I saw the headline, I suppose my first thought was slow news day, which, I mean, even slower blog day for me, since this is what I'm writing about. So my next thought was tiramisu had been around for ages and how could the inventor possibly still be alive? It turns out Ado Campeol was ninety-three years old, and invented the dessert only about fifty years ago, back in 1972. Or didn't invent. That's the even weirder thing. While he's credited with inventing the dessert, every source that credits him, goes on to explain that he deserves no credit. 

With real, authentic tiramisu, you
can practically taste the salmonella.
Have you ever had it? Tiramisu? It's ladies fingers soaked in coffee, with egg, mascarpone, and cocoa. It is delicious, but also super bad for you. And it's not just because it's basically a plate of fat and cholesterol, but also because it's supposed to be made with raw eggs. Of course, Campeol made it to ninety-three so...Anyway, since we don't live in Italy, we've probably never had real tiramisu, but have definitely had a pretentious friend who's well actually'ed us about it. Probably while pronouncing mascarpone with a middling Italian accent while everyone else just rolls their eyes.

Happenstance is for comic book
origin stories, not dessert. 
Ok, but who did invent it? Some articles say it was Alba Campeol, Ado's wife, while others give the credit to Roberto Linguanotto, a chef at Le Beccherie, Campeol's restaurant. Linguanotto even has a preposterous story about the time he dropped mascarpone into sugar and accidentally invented it. Which, sure. Don't believe a word of if, but sure. Ok, so while it was served at Campeol's restaurant that may have popularized it, tiramisu was not his idea, so why are we talking about Ado and not Linguanotto and his dumb story?

Sorry, like, condolences and everything. He was ninety-three, which is a good run, but not necessarily worthy of international headlines. But here we are, talking about the passing of the father of tiramisu despite that fact that the guy who died had, at beast, a tangential role in its creation. He's, at best, its uncle. Although hang on, I suppose the role of a father is, biologically speaking, minimal. So sure. Fine. Farewell to the father of tiramisu. 
"What? I tell people we're pregnant because
we're in this together. What's wrong with that?"



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